1997 Mercedes-benz Sl500 Base Convertible, 65,700 Miles on 2040-cars

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Fastest cars in the world by top speed, 0-60 and quarter mile

A claim for the title of “Fastest Car in the World” might seem easy to settle. ItÂ’s actually anything but: Are we talking production cars, race cars or customized monsters? And what does “fastest” even mean? For years, car publications have tended to define “fastest” in terms of an unbeatable top speed. ThatÂ’s distinct from the “quickest” car in a Usain Bolt-style dash from the starting blocks, as with the familiar 0-60 mph metric. Professionals often focus on track lap times or elapsed time-to-distance, as with a drag racer thatÂ’s first to trip the beam of light at the end of a quarter-mile; or the 1,000-foot trip of nitromethane-powered NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car dragsters. Something tells us, however, that you're not seeking out an answer of "Brittany Force rewriting the NHRA record books with a 3.659-second pass at a boggling 338.17 mph." For most barroom speed arguments, the focus is firmly on cars you can buy in showrooms, even if many are beyond the financial means of all but the wealthiest buyers and collectors. Here are some of the enduring sources of speed claims, counter-claims, tall tales and taunting dismissals that are the lifeblood of car enthusiasts – now with EVs adding an unexpected twist to these passionate pursuits.   Fastest from the blocks: 0-60 mph Thirty years ago, any car that could clock 60 mph in five seconds or less was considered extremely quick. Today, high-performance, gasoline-powered sedans and SUVs are routinely breaking below 4 seconds. As of today, the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 crushes all with a 0-60 mph time of just 1.66 seconds. That's simply absurd, but keep in mind the Demon was engineered with the single-minded purpose of going fast in a straight line. It's also important to realize that direct comparisons are difficult, because not all of these times were accomplished with similar conditions (prepped surfaces, adjustments for elevation and so on). The moral here is to take these times with a tiny grain of salt. After the Dodge, the Rimac Nevera comes in with an officially recorded 0-60 mph time of just 1.74 seconds. EVs crowd the quickest list, with the Pininfarina Battista coming in a few hundredths slower (1.79 seconds) than the Nevera and the Lucid Air sapphire (1.89 seconds) right after that. Eventually, you arrive to the Tesla Model S Plaid, which has a claimed 1.99-second 0-60 mph time, though instrumented testing by Car and Driver shows it accomplishes the deed in 2.1 seconds.

Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG shows up to fight the hottest hatches [w/videos]

Fun coincidence. On the same day that Audi announces the unveiling of its new S3 Sportback at the Geneva Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz steals the spotlight by confirming that the all-new A45 AMG will also receive its official debut early next month. Starting life as the entry-level A-Class hatchback, the A45 AMG gets the full AMG treatment, which includes numerous performance, handling and styling upgrades.
Under the hood sits an AMG-tuned 2.0-liter turbocharged I4 breathing through a sport exhaust system helping the five-door produce 360 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. This engine is paired to a seven-speed AMG dual-clutch transmission and power is sent to the ground using 4Matic all-wheel drive. Mercedes-Benz says that the A45 AMG will be able to accelerate from 0-60 miles per hour in under 4.5 seconds and it will have a top speed of 155 mph; in the land of hot hatches, it doesn't get much hotter than that. For added performance and handling, AMG has retuned the A-Class' suspension and steering systems and equipped The A45 with a three-stage stability control system that is specific to this car.
Surprisingly, the exterior styling of the A-Class was already sporty enough that the new model doesn't receive too many changes to become the A45 AMG. The biggest alterations include black accents to the chin spoiler, rocker panels and mirror caps, black wheels with red-painted brake calipers and rectangular dual exhaust outlets. Inside, it doesn't take a trained eye to spot the differences. The flat-bottomed sport steering wheel and the numerous red accents throughout the cabin (including the seatbelts!) really help to make this AMG interior stand out; front passengers will also get sport bucket seats that appear to be more than supportive enough for even the most spirited driving conditions.

Our love of SUVs is killing people in the streets

Americans are fond of supersized fast-food meals and colossal convenience-store fountain drinks, even though they're clearly bad for our health and U.S. adults keep getting fatter. We also like large vehicles, and our love affair with SUVs is killing people in the streets. According to a recent investigation by the Detroit Free Press/USA Today, the increase in SUV sales over the past several years coincides with a sharp rise in pedestrian deaths in the U.S. — up 46 percent since 2009, with nearly 6,000 people killed in 2016 alone. With SUV sales surpassing sedans in 2014 and pickups and SUVs currently accounting for 60 percent of new vehicle sales, it's no wonder Ford announced in April plans to cease U.S. sales of almost all passenger cars. And this followed Fiat Chrysler's move to virtually an all-truck, -SUV and -crossover lineup. While the Freep/USA Today investigation found that the simultaneous surge in SUV sales and pedestrian deaths comes down to vehicle size, it also points to a lack of action on the part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), even though it knew of the dangers SUVs pose to pedestrians. Also blamed are automakers dragging their feet on implementing active safety features. Using federal accident data, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) determined that there was an 81 percent increase in single-vehicle pedestrian fatalities involving SUVs between 2009 and 2016. Freep/USA Today's analysis of the same data by counting vehicles that struck and killed pedestrians instead of the number of people killed showed a 69 percent increase in SUV involvement. As far back as 2001, researchers at Rowan University forecasted a rise in pedestrian deaths as Americans began switching to SUVs. "In the United States, passenger vehicles are shifting from a fleet populated primarily by cars to a fleet dominated by light trucks and vans," the researchers wrote, with light trucks comprising SUVs.