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 .
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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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Courtesy of Chrysler
Courtesy of Hyundai
Courtesy of Nissan
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Courtesy of Toyota
Courtesy of Chevrolet
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Courtesy of Mazda
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