Best Cars Performance

Best Car Performance engine goes to AMG's 6.2-litre unit, which can be found in various states of tune in a variety of flagship Mercs - and which we'll be sampling in 518bhp form shortly in the E-Class E 63 AMG. Categories are separated by capacity, from sub-1.0-litre up to 4.0-litre and above, with this year's winners including Toyota's 1.0-litre engine from the iQ, BMW's 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel, and the BMW/PSA 1.6-litre turbo found in the MINI Cooper S. Here's a full list of the winners:
International Engine of the Year 2009: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger
Best New Engine of the Year: Porsche 3.8-litre flat six
Green Engine of the Year: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger
Best Performance Engine: Mercedes-AMG 6.2-litre
Sub 1-litre: Toyota 1.0-litre
1-litre to 1.4-litre: Volkswagen 1.4-litre TSI Twincharger
1.4-litre to 1.8-litre: BMW-PSA 1.6-litre Turbo
1.8-litre to 2-litre: Audi 2-litre TFSI
2-litre to 2.5-litre: Mercedes-Benz Diesel 2.1-litre
2.5-litre to 3-litre: BMW 3-litre DI Twin-Turbo
3-litre to 4-litre: BMW 4-litre V8
Above 4-litre: Mercedes-AMG 6.2-litre

Porsche

Porsche's 3.8-litre direct injection flat-six engine from the Porsche 911 Carrera S won best new engine, seeing off competition from the ubiquitous BMW 3.0-litre diesel unit from '30' monikered cars and Jaguar's impressive new supercharged 5.0-litre V8 found in the XKR and XFR. The panel of judges chose Porsche's lump for its combination of fuel economy and response, as well as its significant decrease in CO2 output compared to the 3.6-litre engine it replaced.

BMW

BMW's twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre diesel came a very close second, with Audi's 2.0-litre TFSI engine third. But VW's TSI unit was just too good for them, impressing all of the 64 judges from 32 countries that made up the panel. Chairman of the awards, Dean Slavnich, said: "the fact that it wins both the overall award and our Best Green Engine prize indicates that you can have performance and efficiency in one package."

Volkswagen

Volkswagen has walked away with the International Engine of the Year 2009 gong, in a competition acknowledged as the closest ever by judges. The 1.4-litre lump - which debuted back in 2006 - is both supercharged and turbocharged, which allows it to perform like a much bigger engine while returning fuel economy of a small capacity unit.

Best Cars in the World - Champ Car

Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race. Such racing has also been sanctioned by the American Automobile Association, the United States Auto Club (USAC), the Sports Car Club of America, the Championship Racing League, and the Indy Racing League (IRL).