Engine designs recognised in top ten

The engines on Ward's Auto World's 10 best engines may have come from America, Germany and Japan, but some of the brains behind the brawn have roots in Austria.

The engines on Ward's Auto World's 10 best engines may have come from America, Germany and Japan, but some of the brains behind the brawn have roots in Austria.

Ward's Editors nominated 29 engines for "best engines" consideration.

All were required to be available in regular production 2003 vehicles and all were judged against one another - there were no categories or other means of artificial competition.

Six of the seven automakers on this year's 10 best list use AVL software in their engine development processes.

The final verdict: the automakers that produced nine out of the 10 best engines are aided by AVL's growing expertise and powerful suite of powertrain simulation software.

"In the last few years, automakers and consumers have paid increasing attention to designing and building world-class engines", said Don Manvel, CEO of AVL North America.

According to Ward's "A glance at the 10 Best list" reveals another matter that's no coincidence: none of the winning engines is fitted in a vehicle that's selling poorly or is otherwise ill-regarded.

In fact, most of this year's 10 best engines power some of the market's best-performing vehicles - on the road and on the sales charts.

Chalk up one for the camp that says great vehicles don't happen without great engines".

The Ward's 10 Best Engines Awards are given annually by Ward's Communications, the publisher of Ward's AutoWorld and Ward's Engine and Vehicle Technology Update.

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