Fiat 875cc TwinAir is International Engine of the Year

Small won big once again at the world’s premier engine awards. After its stupendous success with the 1.4-litre MultiAir engine last year, Fiat showed how going even smaller with even more efficiency, specific output and lower emissions is still possible. The 875cc, parallel-twin petrol engine pleased and even surprised judges across the board with its excellent driveability, pep, refinement despite an unnatural internal balance – and stonking, singing power output of 85bhp at 5,500 revs with 150Nm of torque – more than enough to power Fiat’s much-loved retro-revival, the Cinquecento.

The power is not all thanks to natural aspiration though – the powerplant gets a lot of its pep from the Mitsubishi sourced turbocharger. The engine easily topped its own sub 1-litre category, beating its nearest rival, the 3-cylinder Toyota iQ plant by scoring almost twice as many points. The TwinAir also won the Green Engine of the Year award, announcing loudly in a field rife with all-electric powertrains that the time of the internal combustion was not dead even in these desperately green times. The TwinAir manages very impressive emissions figures of 95 g/km of CO2, and unbelievable fuel efficiency numbers in excess of 25 kilometres to the litre.

At the root of the TwinAir’s easy mannerisms is the electronic-hydraulic inlet valve timing system, the same sort that was seen on the 1.4 MultiAir engine that was widely acclaimed. The main challenge for Fiat boffins was to adapt this fairly complicated engine head to the relatively small area on top of a parallel twin mill. A motorcycle-style counter-rotating balance shaft ensured that the twin did not have unpleasant harshness – most judges were surprised with the eager-to-rev and smooth engine.