Ultra-fast acceleration on four wheels is an expensive pursuit. The fastest EVs can go from 0-60 in less than 2 seconds but they cost a ton of money. That has us wondering; just how fast you can do that deed with a budget of just $20,000.
In our eyes, there are about three main ways to attack this problem and the first of which is to search out the best platform for speed and then to build on it. Of course, that requires extra labor and searching for parts too. For this particular Question of the Day, we specifically want to see cars that are turnkey and ready to go.
For example, take a look around the used-car market and you’ll find a bunch of C5 Chevrolet Corvettes for sale. The last year of that generation came in 2004 when the base Vette developed 350 hp (261 kW) and could rocket from 0-60 in about 4.5 seconds. It’s also notoriously robust and hard to kill.
Read More: 2023 GR Corolla Clocks 0-60 Time Of 5.4 Sec In First Test, Comes Up Short On Toyota’s Claims
At the same time, the best solution might be to find something that’s been modified already. For $20,000 there is no shortage of turbocharged cars out there with more than factory levels of boost or supercharged cars with smaller pulleys than they had when they rolled off of the factory line. Of course, if you’re willing to look for someone else’s project to achieve the best 0-60 possible, it might be worth looking over on RacingJunk.com.
There we’ve found multiple street-legal cars that have been prepared specifically for drag racing. For example, the seller of this 1993 Honda Civic hatchback says that it’s the second-fastest SOHC Honda in the world. After a little searching based on the images in the post, this car did the quarter mile in 9.49 seconds at 154 mph.
There’s no indication of its fastest pass ever in the ad but it does say that it has an 8.50 certified cage so it might have more room to improve. That’s the fastest street-legal car we could find for $20,000 but we’re eager to see what you can find. You know the drill; head down and tell us in the comments below.
