About This Quiz
It's a fact of nature that when you have two similar things, each will have its own qualities that you can compare and contrast, and one of those things will have to be the "winner," however you choose to define that. Got two apples? One will be sweeter. Two cats? One will purr louder. Two cars? One has to be faster. And the history of the automobile is just bursting with classic matchups. Automakers are always trying to outdo each other and even themselves.
When the Mustang came on the scene in 1964, it started a whole new category of automaking with the pony car segment. Chevy soon fired back with the Camaro, and every year since the two cars have tried to outperform one another. And that's just one rivalry! Jeep has the 4Runner, Porsche has long gone head to head with Ferrari, and of course, Ford went toe-to-toe with Ferrari once as well. And even in the world of lower-speed, everyday cars, you can't help but wonder which was faster, the Pacer or the Gremlin.
If you have "the need, the need for speed," then it's time to show your stuff. See if you can figure out which car is faster in these epic matchups.
The 2014 Porsche 918 Spyder is an absolute beast of a machine that leaves literally every other car in the dust. Its acceleration from 0 to 60 takes a mind-boggling 2.8 seconds. The Camaro takes a comparatively long time at 3.9 seconds.
The Hennessey Venom F5 is an amazingly fast car, with a claimed top speed of 301 miles per hour, which is just ridiculous. But even more ridiculous is the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, which can bury the needle at 304 miles per hour, making it the fastest production car on Earth.
Mustang versus Mustang has the Shelby GT500 winning the race by a wide margin. The standard Mustang GT tops out at 155 miles per hour, while the Shelby GT500 can reach 180 miles per hour.
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The BMW 8-series for 2019 is only getting you to 155 miles per hour. The Dodge Challenger Hellcat tears up the road with a speed of at least 200 miles per hour and generally clocks in a little bit faster than that.
The 2019 Toyota Corolla can reach a top speed of about 110 miles per hour. The Camry SE, on the other hand, clocks in at about 133 miles per hour, making it the unassuming speedy sedan winner.
While the Ferrari F40 was pretty fast, with a top speed of 202.6 miles per hour, it's hard to outrun the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and its staggeringly fast 267.8 miles per hour. That's a fast car.
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The Nissan Maxima is only getting you to 133 miles per hour. That's grandma speed! The Honda Civic, on the other hand, tops out at an impressive 170 miles per hour, for when you're really, really in a hurry.
As fast as the Mustang is, and it's pretty fast at 155 miles per hour, it has nothing on the Corvette ZR1, which is the fastest production Corvette in history. The ZR1 has a top speed of 212 miles per hour.
The Volkswagen Jetta has a top speed of 127 miles per hour, in case traffic on the drive home lets up and you feel like moving at a good clip. On the other hand, the Volkswagen Golf R will take you where you need to go at 155 miles per hour.
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The first pony car ever, the 1964 Ford Mustang only had a top speed of 116 miles per hour. Three years later, the first Camaro had a top speed of 140 miles per hour. Take it easy on them though - this was the '60s.
Not that these things are built for speed, but the F-150 Raptor only has a top speed of 107 miles per hour. The Dodge Ram 1500, however, is pulling a respectable 130 miles per hour.
The Hyundai Santa Fe has a top speed of about 125 miles per hour, which seems reasonable for an SUV, right? The Tucson just edges it out with a top speed of 130 miles per hour, though.
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The Mazda CX 5 has a top speed of about 130 miles per hour, but so does the Mercedes C300, thanks to electronic limiters that make both cars clock in at the exact same speed. Without the limiters? Who knows?
When you're comparing Teslas, the Model S has a top speed of 155 miles per hour, while the Model 3 is only pulling about 140 miles per hour. Of course, since they're both electric, it's pretty impressive that they're both faster than a lot of gasoline-fueled cars.
The 2019 BMW 330i has an impressive top speed of 155 miles per hour, while the Kia Stinger pulls down an even more impressive 167 miles per hour, making it the unexpected leader of the pack. Who knew?
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Even though the Mustang only hit the road at a top speed of 116 miles per hour back in 1964, the Mustang II in 1974 was even less impressive and only had a top speed of 106 miles per hour. That's slow by any standards.
Bugatti's Type 57SC is a very rare car that's also remarkably fast and remarkably cool. At a top speed of 123 miles per hour, it must have been a fearsome sight on the roads in 1936. The Phantom II from Rolls-Royce only hit a top speed of 50 miles per hour.
The most famous James Bond vehicle, the Aston Martin DB5, was able to hit speeds of 145 miles per hour. By comparison, the Lotus Esprit, which Bond drove and used as a sub in "The Spy Who Loved Me," had a top speed of 138 miles per hour. No word on how fast it traveled underwater.
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In this Ford versus Ferrari battle, the GT40 will see the checkered flag well in advance of Ferrari, with a top speed of 210 miles per hour. The Ferrari 250 GT was relatively slow, at only 150 miles per hour.
Even if a DeLorean could go back in time, its top speed was 110 miles per hour. "Smokey and the Bandit" made the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am famous, and it was pulling down about 132 miles per hour.
Lamborghini's Aventador had a top speed of 217 miles per hour for the 2011 model. While the McLaren was still incredibly fast, it just wasn't quite as fast, with a top speed of about 207 miles per hour.
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The Ford Pinto had a theoretical top speed of about 100 miles per hour, while the AMC Gremlin managed to ever so slightly beat it, with a theoretical top speed of 109 miles per hour. It's best to say "theoretical," since most people were probably not going that fast in these cars.
The Veloster manages a pretty respectable speed of about 130 miles per hour when you open it up. Compare that with the 2019 Mitsubishi Eclipse, which can hit a top speed of about 124 miles per hour.
For 2019 you can get a Honda Accord up to about 155 miles per hour, which is pretty decent. The 2019 Toyota Camry only has a top speed of 112 miles per hour, so hand this one to Honda.
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Both of these cars are exceptionally fast, but the Corvette ZR1 has to take the cake, with a top speed of 214 miles per hour. The Viper is no slouch, though, with a top speed only slightly off the mark of the ZR1, at 208 miles per hour.
The Supra hits a top speed of 155 miles per hour, but it's not faster than the Nissan 370Z. Of course, since the Nissan 370Z also has a top speed of 155 miles per hour, it's not the faster car either.
Back in the day, the Celica had a top speed of about 126.8 miles per hour. The Honda Prelude, on the other hand, managed to get all the way up to 140 miles per hour. Neither car is produced anymore, but the Honda was the champ.
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The F-150 Raptor is only hitting 107 miles per hour, which isn't making the grade compared to most vehicles, and certainly not against Chevy's Silverado. The 2019 Silverado has a top speed of about 130 miles per hour.
If we're being honest, the AMC Pacer was not keeping pace with anything. Its top speed was an abysmal 80 miles per hour or so. The Yugo, as clunky and nasty as it seemed, could at least reach a purported 110 miles per hour.
The Austin-Healey Sprite Mk IV had a top speed of only 95 miles per hour - but hey, this was a refined British automobile. On the other hand, the Triumph TR6 had a top speed of 109 miles per hour.
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As races go, this is a pretty tight one. The Triumph Spitfire had a top speed of 90 miles per hour, which isn't great by today's standards. That said, it was still enough to give it the edge over the MG Midget's top speed of 87.9 miles per hour.
You won't get a much closer match than this one between the Ferrari LaFerrari and the Lamborghini Huracan when it comes to acceleration. The Lamborgini can get to 60 in only 2.5 seconds, but Ferrari can pull it off in 2.4.
Aside from costing an arm and a leg, both of these cars are ale to hit some intense speeds. The Ferrari Portofino has a top speed of about 200 miles per hour, but the Porsche 911 Turbo S just gets by it with a top speed of 205 miles per hour.
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In this matchup, you're getting some epic speed from both cars. While both can go from 0 to 30 in almost the exact same amount of time, overall the Alfa Romeo is the faster option with a top speed of 191 miles per hour, versus the Maserati's 175.
Most electric cars aren't really built to tear up the race track, so it's no surprise that a Chevy Bolt EV has a top speed of about 91 miles per hour. Head to head with the Nissan Leaf it'll lose, though, as the Leaf is pulling slightly faster at 93 miles per hour.
The Toyota 4Runner can hit speeds of 115 miles per hour. It'll barely be able to catch the license plate of the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk as it blazes past at a blistering-fast 180 miles per hour.
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When you want to get a little fast and luxurious, the Cadillac Escalade is winning the matchup here. With a top speed of about 130 miles per hour, the Escalade is leaving the Lincoln Navigator and its top speed of 115 miles per hour in the dust.
Chevy gets the edge on this one, maybe because they had a few years to work out some kinks. The Ford Model T could only reach speeds of 45 miles per hour, while the Chevy, released a few years later, could get all the way up to 65 miles per hour.
Is it a pickup truck or a car? Doesn't matter. The Chevy El Camino had a top speed of about 130 miles per hour. Cadillac's Eldorado, on the other hand, was also topping out at 130 miles per hour, so neither was faster.
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It's a close race between Chevy and Chevy here, but the Malibu wins this one. The Chevelle Malibu SS had a top speed of about 115 miles per hour, while the Bel Air was only pulling around 105 miles per hour.