The World’s Fastest Cars: Top Speed, 0-60 and Quarter Mile Rankings

The claim for the title of “Fastest Car in the World” might seem easy to settle. It’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. That’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 that’s first to trip the beam of light at the end of a quarter-mile. 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. However, it’s important to grain of salt these times due to different conditions.
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 right after that. Up next is 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.

Theoretical bragging rights: top speed
For more than ever, production cars are achieving top speeds that no public road can safely contain, and that no amateur driver should attempt. Bugatti reclaimed the blurry crown with its Chiron Super Sport in 2019, breaking the mythical 300-mph barrier in the process. Driven by racer Andy Wallace, Bugatti’s 16-cylinder, 1,578-horsepower, $3.8-million phantasm reached 304.777 mph at Ehra-Lessien’s 5.4-mile straightaway. Today, the claim for highest top speed is held by the ludicrous Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, which Koenigsegg believes is capable of 330 mph, though as of this writing, it hasn’t been tested.

Still a classic: the quarter-mile
The Pininfarina Battista claims the crown with a shocking 8.55-second quarter-mile time, barely edging out the Rimac Nevera that posted a time of 8.58 seconds. And in case you were curious about where gasoline-powered cars stand, the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 is right there at just 8.91 seconds.

Lord of the Ring: Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife
Over the past decade especially, enthusiasts have become obsessed with lap times on the Nürburgring, a course through Germany’s Eifel mountains that staged its first race in 1927. In 2019, Timo Bernhard took the track-only Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo through an epic 5 minute, 19.55-second lap – by far the fastest ‘Ring lap for any car, ever. In recent years, the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ set a stirring production-car record of 6:44.97, only to be nipped by the Mercedes-Benz AMG GT Black Series at 6:43.62. After that, Porsche works driver Lars Kern drove a 691-hp 911 GT2 RS (equipped with a special “Manthey Performance Kit”) around the circuit in 6:43.30, smashing the record by about 4.74 seconds. And then in 2022, Mercedes-Benz took the record back (where it currently stands) from Porsche with its F1-engine-powered AMG One, mapping the ‘ring in just 6:35.183.