Worst Car For Accereration?

57 VW bus 0-60 time was "maybe". Top speed was 60, so under less than nominal conditions, it would never reach 60 mph. A 57 VW Bug would reach 60 mph in a little under 30 seconds.

 

70s something Mazda RX3 rotory... the seals were shot so the mixture was probably more water than fuel so acceleration was not a word associated. It was my first project after all.

 

Want a slow car? Choose from one of the dozens of 'eco' diesels we get over here. The Prius is actually quite nippy compared to these! 0-60 times of 13, 14 and over seconds are not uncommon. And don't even attempt to try and overtake in one.

So the Prius gives you the best of both; it can overtake and gives great mpg's. An American V8 is quick but not economical and a European eco diesel (one specially tuned to give great mpg's and give similar mpg's to a Prius) are very economical, but certainly not quick!

Read the following link and weep! (100 kph is 62 mph)

Top 30 slowest accelerating cars in Europe – CarToDrive Europe

 

86 Nissan pathfinder, 89 jeep Cherokee, 87 Nissan pathfinder and finally a 90 jeep wrangler with a lift and 36" tires. All of which were carbureted...It was 12mpg but for that I got amazing pickup and acceleration on all of them...




























...From the top of a hill to the bottom...

 

I owned two Mazda GLC's, 59 HP 4 speed, 45 MPH was the top speed in second, and your max speed accelerating uphill.

My daughter alwas claimed that the only car she ever saw me pass going uphill in my Toyota Coralla All-Trac wagon (103 HP AWD 5 speed) was a Toyota Coralla All-Trac wagon with an automatic.

 

1984 Jeep Cherokee, 4 cylinder, you could not safely pass another auto going 65 MPH. POS it was.

 

I had a friend in college with a '73 VW super beetle with the "automatic stick-shift". Basically gears 2 thru 4 of a manual transmission with a torque converter. He ended up down around 25 mph on some grades between Ithaca NY and Cleveland Heights OH.

I had '71 9 passenger VW bus. With the dual port 1600 cc engine it wasn't too bad. With 9 people aboard (I ran a vanpool to and from work) it was challenging.

Never experienced one myself, but I understand a Mercedes-Benz 240D with automatic is pretty sad.

 

'85 benz 300sdl. had one uphill on ramp, floored it and only made 30 mph by the time i hit the highway. and pity the poor people behind me trying to breathe.

 

1978 Chevy Monte Carlo with 200cid V6. Kept it about a year!

 

69 VW van: This was a work vehicle for an environmental research lab I worked for in the 70s. The 76 VW van was fuel injected and was somewhat faster.

Late 70s MB 240d: The 4 cylinder, non turbo Mercedes diesel was truly lethargic when pulling out into traffic during a test drive.

07 Subaru Outback 2.5 automatic: This was the vehicle I owned prior to the Prius - I was pleased that the Prius turned out to be faster.

 

'89 hyundai excel

 

Aside from my 1976 Chevy Monza that had a dead cylinder, the biggest dog I ever owned was my 1983 Buick Regal. The 3.8L V6 did 0 to 60 in nearly 15 seconds and the quarter mile in over 20 seconds at 70mph at the finish line. But it was white and had smoke T-tops, raised white letter tires, and a sweet stereo so at least I looked good...

 

69 VW Westfalia Camper van pulling a home made box trailer from Toronto to Vancouver.
The trailer contained my worldly possessions and was almost as big as the van.
The van made the trip with no problems but I did not set any speed records crossing the Rocky mountain passes.

 

1984 Pontiac 6000 with a 2.5L "iron duke" 4 cylinder. Real worthless car.

 

By US standards the Prius has very poor acceleration. It is acceptable in that it doesn't prohibit your movement, including on the highway, but it certainly isn't fun, and at times it can be frustrating. You do have to be cognizant of it when passing. It's not really a deal breaker, but the thing is a dog for sure.

 

The first car I had was an '86 Toyota Corolla DX w/ AT, 34K miles on the odo. 3 speeds and 74 HP was all it had to work with. It was also carbureted and had a nasty hesitation when floored...upwards of around 1-2 sec before the engine said, 'ok, I guess you want more power' To get a bit better acceleration from a stop, I manually shifted it from 'L' to '2' to get more 'pop' from the lower gear. Needless to say, it didn't matter when going up long, steep grades...there were times the maximum speed I could get when going up is 60 MPH...floored. If it was also during the summer months with 100 deg F temps outside, I'd also have to turn off the A/C, open up the windows, and turn on the heater at full blast, to avoid overheating the engine I drove that vehicle for over 9 yrs from 1988-1997 w/ 205K miles on the odo before I sold it...for $800 I got about 27 MPG average in that car...probably would have been better had I not constantly over-revved the engine all the time...