Audi 2.5-litre TFSI wins International Engine of the Year award

This would be the sixth year that Audi has taken home an award for their 2.5-litre TFSI engine. It’s a 5-cylinder engine that, much like many European engines, has been tweaked and adjusted over the course of it’s lifespan to keep it relevant and efficient with the changes in standards and context.

5 cylinder engines are rather unique in that they are not as mass-produced and varied as 4-cylinder engines, and yet they are not as lusted for as the straight-6 engines, flat-6 engines, or V8 engines. They are oddballs in their own right, but they are special in that they have only ever shown up in truly unique cars.

Audi, Volvo, and Fiat have all produced 5-cylinder engines in their time. Audi’s claim to fame was during the Group B era of rally, which made the turbocharged 5-cylinder engine in the Audi Quattro world-famous. The unique noise it made, as well as the performance, made it incredibly memorable.

The modern incarnation of the 5-cylinder engine is far more advanced and efficient, and more powerful in it’s passenger car state of tune as well. Most prominently found in the Audi RS 3 Sportback, the 2.5 TFSI engine makes 367 hp and 465 Nm of torque in this state of tune, channeled to all four wheels through the quattro all-wheel drive system. Thanks to modern turbo technology, maximum torque is available from just over idle, all the way up to 5,550 rpm.

It’s a truly special engine, and once again it only shows up in a handful of cars. The only other Audi models to sport this engine are the current generation TT RS and the RS Q3- a lifted hot hatchback. In the Audi TT Clubsport concept, this engine is pushed to over 600 hp thanks to an electric turbocharger, so the future is rife with possibilities.