Mitsubishi Mirage G4, Honda Odyssey Have the Most Responsive Engines We’ve Tested, Porsche Cayman the Least

Welcome to Car and Driver’s Testing Hub, where we zoom in on the test numbers. We’ve been pushing vehicles to their limits since 1956 to provide objective data to bolster our subjective impressions (you can see how we test here).

Hang around a Sunday morning car meet or lurk in the comments on an online automotive forum and you’re bound to hear 60-mph acceleration times used to debate whether a car outperforms its competitors. But while the dash to 60 mph is a common metric, it doesn’t tell the full story. The stats that impassioned enthusiasts use to corroborate their arguments often come via test drivers utilizing aggressive and abusive techniques to record a number that’s unrealistic for Joe Blow to achieve when racing from a stoplight against his buddies.

How We Test Acceleration

This is why Car and Driver tests both standing starts as well as rolling starts, and why we invented the 5–60-mph test. The former, published in our results as the 60-mph time, is logged by our testing team using either launch control or the driver’s best effort, which can include brake torquing, high-rpm clutch dumps, or clutch-slipping launches on cars equipped with manual transmissions. These runs take technique and a lack of mechanical sympathy; replicating them, if an owner even wanted to, is often not easy.

Rolling starts, meanwhile, happen with the vehicle idling along in first gear before our test driver stomps on the throttle. Represented in our testing data as the 5-to-60-mph time, this test is more representative of real-world acceleration—like going wide-open throttle when the light turns green—than the 60-mph test. The fact that the 5-to-60-mph run is typically slower explains why some cars might not feel quite as rapid in daily driving as the oft-quoted 60-mph number might suggest.

The data from the 5-to-60-mph dash also provides a sense of how responsive each car’s powertrain is. A large gap between a car’s 60- and 5-to-60-mph times means the engine is less responsive—this is where turbo lag shows up—while a smaller delta means a quicker reacting powertrain. We also use this difference to calculate the “flexibility” score in our comparison tests.

There’s some nuance to interpreting these results, as vehicles whose makers electronically limit brake torquing will tend to do better in this measure of responsiveness, while vehicles with particularly effective or aggressive launch control do worse, even though perhaps the engine’s underlying responsiveness might not be much different.

Unsurprisingly, given the fact that electric motors produce peak torque from 0 rpm, electric vehicles typically perform extremely well in terms of responsiveness, with 60- and 5-to-60-mph times that are nearly identical. Take the Tesla Model S Plaid: despite an elaborate launch-control sequence that helps it blast to ludicrous speeds, the run from 5 to 60 mph is only 0.2 second behind the launch-control-assisted 60-mph sprint.

The Results

We combed through the data to find the least and most responsive powertrains that are currently available; we excluded both EVs and plug-in hybrids, which benefit from the instant torque of electric motors.

Least Responsive Powertrains

• 2020 Porsche 718 Cayman T manual (+2.0 seconds)
• 0–60 mph in 4.4 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.4 seconds
• 2020 BMW M235i xDrive Gran Coupe (+1.8 seconds)
• 0–60 mph in 4.2 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.0 seconds
• 2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar P250 SE (+1.8 seconds)
• 0–60 mph in 7.3 seconds, 5–60 mph in 9.1 seconds
• 2021 Ford Bronco Outer Banks Four-Door (+1.7 seconds)
• 0–60 mph in 6.5 seconds, 5–60 mph in 8.2 seconds
• 2024 Porsche Cayenne Coupe Turbo GT (+1.7 seconds)
• 0–60 mph in 2.8 seconds, 5–60 mph in 4.5 seconds

It’s not a shock that the least responsive powertrains are all turbocharged. The worst performer was the Porsche 718 Cayman T, which packs a high-boostturbo 2.0-liter flat-four engine. The 2020 manual-equipped model we tested did the 60-mph launch in 4.4 seconds but was a full two seconds behind on the 5-to-60-mph run. Other laggy engines included a 2020 BMW M235i xDrive Gran Coupe and a 2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar P250 SE, both of which had a 1.8 second difference between the 60- and 5-to-60-mph times.

A leisurely response is certainly not limited to slow vehicles. A four-door 2021 Ford Bronco Outer Banks needed 8.2 seconds to go from 5 to 60 mph, 1.7 seconds off its 60-mph time. But a 2024 Porsche Cayenne Coupe Turbo GT experienced the same delta, needing 4.5 seconds on the 5-to-60-mph test versus its ballistic 2.8-second sprint to 60 mph.

Most Responsive Powertrains

• 2017 Mitsubishi Mirage G4 (-0.1 second)
• 0–60 mph in 12.8 seconds, 5–60 mph in 12.7 seconds
• 2018 Honda Odyssey Elite (-0.1 second)
• 0–60 mph in 6.7 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.6 seconds
• 2023 Chevrolet Blazer RS AWD (no difference)
• 0–60 mph in 6.6 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.6 second
• 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport (no difference)
• 0–60 mph in 6.9 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.9 seconds
• 2020 Kia Telluride SX AWD (no difference)
• 0–60 mph in 7.1 seconds, 5–60 mph in 7.1 seconds
• 2020 Nissan Versa SR (no difference)
• 0–60 mph in 10.3 seconds, 5–60 mph in 10.3 seconds

The most responsive powertrains we have tested also aren’t necessarily among the quickest. Taking the number one spot is a 2017 Mitsubishi Mirage G4, which trudged to 60 mph in 12.8 seconds but actually went 0.1 second quicker in the 5-to-60-mph test. This same delta applied to a 2018 Honda Odyssey Elite, which did the 5-to-60 mph run in 6.6 seconds. Rounding out the most responsive list are four cars that returned the same 60- and 5-to-60-mph times: a 2023 Chevrolet Blazer RS AWD, a 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport, a 2020 Kia Telluride SX AWD, and a 2020 Nissan Versa SR.

Most Responsive Turbo Powertrains

• 2021 Hyundai Sonata N-Line (+0.2 second)
• 0–60 mph in 5.0 seconds, 5–60 mph in 5.2 seconds
• 2024 Mazda CX-90 Premium Plus (+0.2 second)
• 0–60 mph in 6.3 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.5 seconds
• 2022 Volkswagen Golf GTI SE (+0.3 second)
• 0–60 mph in 5.5 seconds, 5–60 mph in 5.8 seconds
• 2023 Subaru Legacy Sport (+0.3 second)
• 0–60 mph in 5.7 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.0 seconds
• 2020 Subaru Outback Touring XT (+0.3 second)
• 0–60 mph in 6.3 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.6 seconds
• 2019 Infiniti QX50 AWD (+0.3 second)
• 0–60 mph in 6.7 seconds, 5–60 mph in 7.0 seconds
• 2024 Cadillac XT4 Sport AWD (+0.3 second)
• 0–60 mph in 7.0 seconds, 5–60 mph in 7.3 seconds
• 2021 Audi Q5 Sportback (+0.3 second)
• 0–60 mph in 6.1 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.4 seconds
• 2021 Ford Edge ST-Line (+0.3 second)
• 0–60 mph in 6.6 seconds, 5–60 mph in 6.9 seconds
• 2023 Hyundai Sonata SEL Plus (+0.3 second)
• 0–60 mph in 7.1 seconds, 5–60 mph in 7.4 seconds

You probably noticed that all of the vehicles in the most-responsive list are naturally aspirated, leading us to investigate the most responsive turbocharged powertrains. The winner here was a 2021 Hyundai Sonata N-Line, which packs a turbo 2.5-liter inline-four. Its 5.2-second 5-to-60-mph time was a mere 0.2 second off its 60-mph run. A 2024 Mazda CX-90 Premium Plus, which packs a turbo 3.3-liter inline-six with a 48-volt hybrid system, also had a 0.2-second gap between the two figures.

The best of the rest of the most responsive turbocharged engines all recorded a 5-to-60-mph time that was 0.3 second behind their 60-mph time. This included a 2022 Volkswagen Golf GTI, a 2023 Subaru Legacy Sport, a 2020 Subaru Outback Touring XT, and a 2019 Infiniti QX50. There was also a 2024 Cadillac XT4 Sport AWD, a 2021 Audi Q5 Sportback, a 2021 Ford Edge ST-Line, and a 2023 Hyundai Sonata SEL Plus with the 1.6-liter four-cylinder.

Turbocharged engines have come a long way from the 1970s and ’80s, when the likes of the first Porsche 911 Turbos and Audi Quattro let drivers count to four after pinning the throttle before the wallop of torque arrived. However, turbos have proliferated across automakers’ lineups for their ability to add power while maintaining or improving fuel efficiency, and this data shows that modern turbocharged engines are still noticeably less responsive than non-boosted powertrains. That might explain why your friend’s Subaru Legacy Sport got the jump on your stick-shift Porsche Cayman T in a stop-light drag race.

Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.