That’s right. A jury of 76 international motoring journalists decided the best and finest engine today is the Fiat 500’s two-cylinder TwinAir unit!

Usually the judges of such awards are quite wrong, but this time we think they got it spot on. This TwinAir engine might be tiny and have only two cylinder for a total displacement of 875cc, but the greatest thing about it is that it doesn’t sacrifice fun for economy. Sure with only two cylinder it is very economical, but it’s also turbocharged and makes 85 PS. This busy little engine provides huge driving fun.

This engine was also victorious in the Best New Engine, Best Sub 1-litre, and Best Green Engine categories, even beating zero-emission pure electric vehicle engines from Nissan and Mitsubishi in the latter category.

Fiat Group snatches wins other award as the new 570bhp, 4.5-litre V8 engine of Ferrari 458 snatches both ‘Best Performance Engine’ and ‘Above 4-litre’category trophies.

Dean Slavnich, editor of Engine Technology International and co-chairman of the International Engine of the Year Awards, says: “Fiat has now produced one of the all-time great engines. Who would have thought that a two-cylinder unit could have won the International Engine of the Year title when we launched the Awards in 1999? Its triumph is a clear signal that less is more: people want low-emission, fuel-efficient yet powerful engines, and just two cylinders certainly seems to provide a comprehensive solution!”