by Michael Harley from Vehix.com.
Enthusiasts consider 0 to 60 mph acceleration a standard litmus test for sports car performance. Unlike top speed or quarter-mile times, nearly every vehicle on the road is capable of firing off a quick burst to highway speeds without attracting too much attention from the law.
Thanks to an all-out horsepower war, the “quickest accelerating car” number is a moving target. Just twenty-five years ago, the Porsche 911 Turbo was the fastest accelerating production car on the planet with a 0-60 mph time of just 4.9 seconds. While that number was considered rocket-fast in the mid-1980s, there are dozens of vehicles that would leave that old benchmark coupe in their dust today. In fact, the Cadillac CTS-V Wagon (view photos) beats that old Porsche (read all Porsche articles) by more than a second. Remember, we’re talking about a family wagon here.
We’ve done our homework to come up with a list of the five fastest 0 to 60 cars in the world in 2011. Instead of writing about low-volume vehicles like the Mosler MT900 and Koenigsegg CCR, which are as rare as a pack of albino zebras in downtown Manhattan, our team has chosen a handful of vehicles that, if you’re lucky, you might even spot on public roads.
A quick glance at our fastest cars list reveals a common theme. Each of the supercars make at least 500 horsepower and all are fitted with automatic (single- or dual-clutch) gearboxes — truth is, humans simply cannot shift as quickly as computers. The fastest four are also engineered with permanent all-wheel drive, as wheelspin is a significant obstacle when gobs of torque are sent through just two wheels. Keep that point in mind when you wonder why the 638 horsepower Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 isn’t on our list — the coupe only comes with a manual transmission and rear-wheel drive. All vehicles are listed from slowest to fastest.
To see the list: Click Here