Gasoline direct injection (GDI) has been with us for close to a century, but it’s taken a while for car companies especially to get it right: the Swedes invented it in 1925, the Germans used it in aircraft during the war and Ford messed around with it in the 70s, but it did not become available for public use until 1996 in the Japan-only Mitsubishi Galant. This year though, seven out of ten engines in the Ward’s 10 Best Engines List are GDI.

Five of these engines are four-bangers, so efficiency seems to be the name of the game, though the engines are from interesting cars: BMW’s N20 and N55 are in there and the non-GDI, but hardly tepid 550 bhp 5 liter V8 from the Boss Mustang 302 is in there as well.

The explanation lies herein as explained by Ward’s own editor, Drew Winter: “every engine reinforces the idea that even fuel-efficient vehicles must be fun to drive.”

This year’s winners and the applications tested:

• 3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 (Audi A6)
• 2.0L N20 Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (BMW Z4/528i)
• 3.0L N55 Turbocharged DOHC I-6 (BMW 335i coupe)
• 3.6L Pentastar DOHC V-6 (Chrysler 300S/Jeep Wrangler)
• 2.0L EcoBoost DOHC I-4 (Ford Edge)
• 5.0L DOHC V-8 (Ford Mustang Boss 302)
• 2.0L Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Buick Regal GS)
• 1.6L DOHC I-4 (Hyundai Accent/Kia Soul)
• 2.0L Skyactiv DOHC I-4 (Mazda3)
• 3.5L DOHC V-6 HEV (Infiniti M35h)

- By: Sawyer Sutton

Source: WardsAuto