The Renesis rotary engine fitted to Mazda's RX-8 has been voted the world's greatest engine in the prestigious annual International Engine of the Year awards. Not only is the powerplant smooth, compact and powerful, but it's also very clean - it's already able to meet the Euro IV emisisons regulations which come into force in 2005.

The first International Engine of the Year awards were dished out in 1999 and there are now 50 magazines worldwide which cast their votes to award a dozen trophies each year. This year Honda scooped a third of those and BMW another three - and as you'd expect, there are some superb engines in the running. This year's winners were:

*Best new engine of 2003 - Mazda RENESIS Rotary (RX-8)

*Best fuel economy - Honda 1.3-litre IMA (Civic)

*Best performance engine - Mercedes-AMG 55(CL55, E55, S55, SL55)

*Sub-1-litre - Honda 1-litre IMA (Insight)

*1.0 to 1.4-litre - Honda 1.3-litre IMA (Civic)

*1.4 to 1.8-litre - MINI Supercharged 1.6-litre (Cooper S)

*1.8 to 2-litre - Honda 2-litre (S2000)

*2.0 to 2.5-litre - BMW 2.5-litre (325i, 525i, Z4)

*2.5 to 3-litre - Mazda RENESIS Rotary (RX-8)

*3.0 to 4-litre - BMW 3.2-litre (M3)

*Above 4-litre - Volkswagen 5-litre V10TDi (Touareg,Phaeton)

*International engine of the year - Mazda RENESIS Rotary (RX-8)

Originally written by:Richard Dredge
www.topgear.com