In 1984 , the quaternary - propagation ( C4 ) Corvette was one of the quickest and best - performing cars you could buy .   This , however , is not the C4 ’s day .

Three decades afterward , the car is more stock-still in the eighties than David Hasselhoff . Major improvements in the engines and tires of much more plebeian cars have all but annihilate that quickness advantage . That should n’t be a surprise – after all , many ofthe greatest muscle railway car of the 1960s would lose to a minivantoday .

Just how much has the C4 hang , you ask ? In 1984 , the squad atMotorWeektested the then - new C4 Corvetteand find it could go from 0 - 60 miles per hour in 7.9 seconds .   Every single car you see below would beat it in a drag raceway , and there ’s nary a mutant car – or even a true sport sedan – among them .

1984 Corvette

Flickr/Sicnag

Chrysler Pacifica

0 - 60:7.6 secondsBase price:$28,595Fun fact : the Pacifica is n’t the only minivan faster than the ' 84 ' Vette . Try order someone in 1984 , just asminivans set about to supplant the station wagon ,   that thePlastic Fantasticwould get beat in a puff race by a vehicle designed to take kids to association football drill .

Hyundai Elantra ECO

0 - 60:7.8 secondsBase price:$21,485The Elantra literally has the word of honor " ECO " in its name , so you ’d cogitate it ’s not meant to be fast , proper ? That ’s kinda the suspect thing about the Elantra ECO , though … it has quite a moment more torque ( and is consequently faster to 60 miles per hour ) than its non - ECO Elantra brother . astonishingly , that ’s enough to aid it creak past the C4 ' Vette .

Nissan JUKE

0 - 60:6.9 secondsBase price:$20,250It ’s as far-out as it is polarizing , but with a 0 - 60 time of under seven seconds , the JUKE is more or less a poster small fry for the evolution of automobiles . call up back to the machine of the 1980s that occupied a similar blank space in the grocery store , and you ’re gaze in the look of a second - generationToyota Tercel . permit that sink in for a second .

Honda Accord Sedan

0 - 60:7.6 secondsBase price:$23,155Honda ’s omnipresent sedan has enough grunt off the line to make this tilt without jumping to its more muscular V6 engine . The answer is a mid - sized four - door that just squeaks past the fourth dimension limit , at a price below what the C4 went for when it was new – without adjusting for three decades ' Charles Frederick Worth of ostentation .

Volkswagen Golf TSI

0 - 60:6.8 secondsBase price:$19,895The VW Golf , of course , has many fans . This is n’t the Golf roentgen , though , which is legitimately nimble , even by today ’s criterion . Nor is it the still - sportsmanlike GTI . It ’s your dear ol' impressment - your - conservative - uncle - at - Thanksgiving Day - with - your - frugality Volkswagen Golf , and for under 20 yard , it has some speediness .

Toyota Camry XSE V6

0 - 60:6.1 secondsBase price:$31,370The Camry is kind of asleeperby today ’s terms . It does n’t transude a sporting presence by any stretch , but at 6.1 second , it strike 60 mph faster than the corvette of your youth and beats its share of fresh cars as well .

Chevrolet Cruze

0 - 60:7.6 secondsBase price:$16,975The Cruze is n’t Chevy ’s cheapest offering , but in many way it ’s designed to appeal to the wide-cut swath of potential buyers . That ’s a proposition that does n’t normally include acceleration , but 7.6 second is all the Cruze ’s 153hp four - cylinder locomotive needs to actuate the automobile to 60 miles per hour .

Ford Taurus SE

0 - 60:7 secondsBase price:$27,225As with the Honda Accord , it ’s the base Taurus that makes this listing . While you could spring for the much , much quicker Taurus SHO , the fact remain that the advanced classic that is theoriginalSHO is only barely firm than the cheap Ilich Sanchez you could get today – which itself is still degenerate than that early of C4 corvette .

Mazda CX-9

0 - 60:7.2 secondsBase price:$31,520Crossovers were n’t much of a thing in 1984 , but that ’s hardly relevant . What is relevant is that we live in an age where a mid - tier crossing that costs ( after adjust for inflation ) just overhalfof what a Corvette did , is incontrovertibly faster off the air .

Kia Optima SX

0 - 60:7.3 secondsBase price:$29,924Yes , that ’s a Kia that ’ll run you just under 30 grand , but it ’s still a reasonably immediate Kia that by any objective standard is far more comfortable than the Corvette was in 1984 .

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Minivans are faster than old Corvettes now

Courtesy of Chrysler

Hyundai Elantra Eco

Courtesy of Hyundai

Nissan Juke

Courtesy of Nissan

Honda Accord Sedan

Courtesy of Honda

Volkswagen Golf

Courtesy of Volkswagen

Toyota Camry

Courtesy of Toyota

Chevy Cruze

Courtesy of Chevrolet

Ford Taurus

Courtesy of Ford

Mazda CX-9

Courtesy of Mazda

Kia Optima SX

Courtesy of Kia