you are right, that vw tfsi engine is not that bad, but it is one turbo engine.
with some exceptions, bmw tries to avoid building any turbo charger or compressor stuff.
in diesels they do. it is used by companies that don't know how to squeeze out maximum power without all that extra stuff that makes the engine unreliable, heavy, and a guzzler. the reason why all those companies build turbo nowadays is: the can use a cheap mass production engine (the build zillions of that fsi engines in vw, audi, seat, skoda), add a turbo and you got one powerful engine. and today, they try to keep displacement small and few cylinders for lower fuel consumption, combine it with a turbo and compressor for both low and high revs to make it work efficiently in any rev range.
that is not what bmw do. that company stands for a different way of constructing engines. but i do admit it is a different price range, and you know that. the father of my buddy had a audi s4 avant, 2.7 liter displacement, v6 engine, turbo. up to today, audi still uses rubber belts for their valves, camshafts (ok i don't exactly know the american word for that, nockenwelle in german)
that is ridiculous in such an engine!!! he had driven it 98 thousand kilometers, and it has to be changed every 100 thousand kilometers, which is about 500 bucks. that belt broke 2000 kilometers before that change. the engine got completely destroyed, and that was not a singular incident with an audi engine. search german auto forums with audi related stuff and you know why bmw is #1 premium car maker in the world. no rubber belts, chain driven engines for almost 100 years! the audi crate engine was around 9.000 euro. and audi didn't help with any cent. a bmw crate engine entry level six in a row (3. liter, 218 ps) is around 15.000 euro, see the difference (titan, magnesium engine block!!!) check the internet for the weights of a audi v6 and r6 bmw, it is a 50 kilo (100 pounds) difference!!! generally speaking audi and vw do have a lot of problems with their engines, check autobild.de for the latest 2009 tüv report that shows so many flaws for the vw turbo engines, just as you had with that engine. guess what make had the least problems with their engines
so again, that vw engines are good engines. i have had a vw golf II gt for 14 years and have never had any serious issues with that engine. but a bmw engine is a different world. the only real and annoying problem about bmw is a lot of the guys that buy and drive these vehicles. but you can't blame the cars for that.
and btw my name is not fritz. i actually don't know anyone with that name. must have been before my time. we got plenty of kevins around here nowadays
that engine of the year awards are given by a group of motor journalists, members of engineering associations and engine professionals from all over the world, a lot of them from the usa. and no, not by bmw or by german gearheads. neither by the great canadian auto makers, slotcarrod
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Engine_of_the_Year#Manufacturer_rankings
check this american website, it says it all with few words. nuff said.
http://www.usautoparts.net/bmw/engines/index.htm
but if anyone will ever again compare a bimmer engine to a japanese motor or a vw or ford or subaru or audi i'll start taking that as one personal insult, and if so then: blitzkrieg 
thank you. still a lot of guys in the u.s. that know something about cars and engines.
