In 1998 Car and Driver rounded up a handful of stock performance cars and tuner specials, including a stock C5 Corvette and a 415-cube Lingenfelter ZR-1, to see how fast each one could accelerate to 150 mph then come to a complete stop the fastest. With the premise still resonating after a quarter century of automotive progress, C&D decided to revisit 0-150-0 in 2023; tuners were no longer necessary.

With a time of 22.5 seconds – nearly a full second faster than the Lingenfelter that ran away with the late ‘90s event – the 8,600 RPM C8 Z06 earned a silver medal, trailing only the 19.3 of the contemporary Porsche 911 Turbo S and its twin-turbo 640-horse AWD powertrain.

The ZR1X Came to Win

In this era of sequels, C&D didn’t see fit to let such a good idea lie for another 25 years, instead opting for an Olympic-esque layover. This time, 13 vehicles answered the casting call. The Corvette team, hungry for vengeance, has been feeding its mid-engined baby large quantities growth hormone; the resulting 1,250-horsepower ZR1X is out for blood. 911 Turbo S also returns but it won’t be an easy lunch with a weight-lifting regiment of its own resulting in a hybridized 701 horsepower.

The Rest of the Field

The focused and lightweight McLaren 750S is on hand to make things interesting, as is a 621 HP all-engine fast Audi wagon and a pair of BMW M cars (M2 CS and the porky new M5). There’s an ultra-luxury car present in the 671-horse Bentley Continental GT S, and the Hurricane-6 powered Charger Scat Pack made an appearance to try drumming up some fanfare for America’s slowest-selling new car (when the Hellcat eventually arrives, will it be too late after the model’s reputation was completely upended by going electric?).

That non-V8 Dodge checks in at a lofty $72k, but still represents one of only three competitors with MSRPs under $100,000 (the average price to get into the 0-150-0 club this go around is $202,892). The other being a duo of Hyundais: a $62,500 (and 4,875-pound) electric hatchback with 641 HP, and the only truly attainable contender, the turbo four-banger equipped Elantra N that can be had for under $38 g’s.

Rounding out the participants are a trio of EVs, starting with the ZR1X’s West Coast rival, the Lucid Air Sapphire (5,332 lbs.). To go along with the Turbo S, Porsche sent a pair of cars that their dealers might force 911 intenders buy as a prerequisite: the (maybe/possibly? soon-to-be canceled) Taycan “Turbo” GT Weissach (4,954 lbs.) and the Cayenne “Turbo” Electric (6,063 lbs.).

Results and Context

So, not exactly the pack of ’98 that featured an average price of $57,251 ($117,238 in 2026 bucks) with purely sporting names like Viper, NSX, and Camaro, or even the ’23 test with the likes of Supra, Blackwing, and Dark Horse, but even though many of the very pricy vehicles in the ’26 rendition leave us with a cat-like feeling of indifference, there’s no denying the unbelievable speed on display.

Remember the boosted 911 that claimed victory with a 19.3 ET just three years ago? That time would only be good for seventh place in 2026, and a distant 7th, at that. The new Turbo S (the only “Turbo” Porsche in the test with actual Turbos) improved on its successor’s time by nearly two seconds – an eternity on track. Its impressive 17.4 was only good enough for 6th place! Slipping ahead of the quickest version of Porsche’s famed sports car by a full second was… the massive four-door electric SUV with which it shares a badge. The once-unbeatable McLaren couldn’t even fight its way onto the podium with its blazing 16.1. Meanwhile, the top three finishers all stopped the clock in the 14s, with the 14.8-second Taycan wearing bronze when the dust settled.

Before revealing the finishing order of the favored Americans, let’s look at where the other fighters fell and add some context from ’98. The bargain Elantra fulfilled its destiny as this year’s basement dweller, but by stopping the clock in 43.6 seconds. The 286-horse Korean can still hold its head high after besting the 320 HP LS1 fourth-gen Camaro (43.7) AND the 996-generation Porsche 911 Carrera (45.2) from the original test – the C5 is safe at 37.8. This year’s Charger was second slowest, its 550 ponies only propelling to a 37.2. After that, places 7-11 were pretty competitive, with the plug-in Hyundai lagging the rest at 27.4. The Audi family trickster stopped in 24.7, the Bentley 24.1, and the M2 23.2. That leaves the 7th place M5 at 21.8, which is both 1.5 faster than its little brother and trailing the last of the legitimate contenders by 4.4 seconds. Back to the tip of the spear where the Lucid and the ZR1X were left vying for supremacy in the 14s and a deeper data dive makes things even more interesting. The ultimate ‘Vette completed the run in 14-flat for the championship belt, but the California four-door actually reached 150 .3 of a second quicker (8.8 to 9.1). It was the X’s new Alcon stoppers/pizza pans that saved it, hauling the 4,100-pound Kentucky brawler to a stop, and likely popping a few testers’ eyeballs out of their sockets, in just 4.8 seconds (tied for best-in-test with the McLaren), while the Sapphire struggled to rein in its mass for 5.5 seconds, making it the worst stopper in the top six, with even the Cayenne stifling its momentum just 5.3 seconds after it was traveling 150.

But Wait, There’s More!

These cars have gotten so fast that C&D decided to up the ante, inviting the ZR1X, McLaren, Lucid, and 911 Turbo S to try their hands in a 0-200-0 gauntlet that only three performers could actually achieve. The Porsche failed to reach its listed 200 mph top speed – its fishy speedo read 208 when it actually traveling 199.3, and we’re supposed to trust this company’s ‘Ring times? – and was DQ’d for its efforts.

Before getting to the remaining three, C&D dropped some knowledge about how difficult it is to get over the double century mark – remember just getting seven extra MPH out of the C6 ZR1 from the Z06s 198 top speed required 133 extra ponies! Here’s the free lesson in speed; “the primary factor for getting from 150 to 200 mph is aerodynamics, with the difference in power required to overcome drag at 200 mph 2.4 times higher than at 150 and eight times higher than at 100. Almost every vehicle on the road can hit the century mark, but 200 is rarefied air.” With the ZR1X’s big downforce ZTK package intact, you can see where this is going…

The track pack’d ZR1X umbrellaed itself to 200 and back in 31.8 seconds, needing more than double its previous time to finish the last 50 MPH. That isn’t nearly as impressive as the first result, but it’s still good for a 5.9-second advantage over the slipperier McLaren 750S and its 37.7 (about as fast as the Charger’s 150 and back) run. The Lucid Sapphire uses its catchy 1,234 electric horsepower to sprint to 200 (just 8 MPH shy of its top speed) and back to zero in just 25.7 seconds, to easily take the second contest despite reportedly needing nearly a quarter mile to haul itself to a stop. All we can do is take our hats off (and patriotically put them over our hearts) to the achievement of America’s mightiest EV and suggest that the next time C&D calls for an acceleration test, GM sends a properly armed low-wing version of their most powerful offering. We can’t wait to see that test (or whatever The General cooks up after three more years of advances)!

Source:
Car and Driver

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