Some vehicles are just not designed to move fast. Cars with slow 0-60 miles per hour speeds and modest top speeds result from a variety of reasons, from emissions to cost controls. While these lumbering beasts often include practical vehicles in their ranks, they, too, take patience to reach highway speeds.
Here are 15 of the slowest vehicles of the last 35 years.
Nissan Versa
Nissan has been producing the Versa since 2006 and didn’t exactly intend to make it fast. Powered by a 1.6-liter engine, the Versa moves from 0 to 60 mph in about 9.5 seconds. For such a popular vehicle, it is probably not its blistering pace that attracts buyers.
Chevrolet Trax
Chevrolet launched the subcompact SUV Trax in 2013. While the vehicle works well for commuters and urban dwellers who park in tight spaces and enjoy its decent 31 miles per gallon consumption on the highway, it isn’t quick. Earlier models of the Trax needed a leisurely 9.4 seconds to reach 60 mph.
Chevrolet Spark
The Spark is another Chevrolet vehicle best suited for the city. The 1.4-liter engine allows the 2022 Spark to achieve 41 mpg on the highway. On the flip side, though, the same engine produces a paltry 98 horsepower and can do 0-60 mph in a yawn-inducing 10.8 seconds.
Ford Aspire
The Aspire was built from 1994 to 1997 and earned a reputation as a good, if uninspiring, compact vehicle. Ford powered the base Aspire with a 1.3-liter engine that could get the car from 0-60 mph in a glacial 12.7 seconds.
Mitsubishi Mirage
The Mitsubishi Mirage is one the slowest new cars sold in America today. In all fairness, the low starting MSRP of under $17,000 remains very attractive. You get what you pay for, though, with a 1.4-liter engine capable of 78 horsepower and a 0-60 mph speed of about 12 seconds.
Nissan Kicks
Originally launched in 2018, the Nissan Kicks was revamped for 2025. That being said, its only claim to speed fame is that it is marginally less slow than the Mirage. The small SUV has a great starting price of around $21,000, but the engine produces only 122 horsepower, which makes the Kick go from 0 to 60 in just under 10 seconds.
Honda EV Plus
Today’s electric cars offer fast acceleration due to their powerful motors, batteries and capable electronics, and not, sadly, from the early drivetrains in the Honda EV Plus.
Honda began developing the EV Plus in 1988 before it eventually reached limited production in 1997. Acceleration was almost as slow as the development time, with a 0-60 mph time of 16.5 seconds. This was primarily due to a rather heavy battery, which accounted for over a quarter of the vehicle’s total 3,600-pound weight.
Geo Metro
Geo started making the Metro in 1989 and produced it for a long time, through 2001, as it was a popular, inexpensive vehicle. The 1997 Metro had a 1-liter, 3-cylinder engine capable of hitting 60 mph in just under 14 seconds. Geo sold lots of Metros, partly because the car had excellent gas mileage of up to 43 mpg when fuel prices were high.
Honda Beat
You may have never seen a Honda Beat because it was part of the Kei car craze that consumed Japan in the 1990s and couldn’t be officially sold in the United States. Honda produced the Beat from 1991 to 1996.
The Beat was known for being a cool convertible. It had a lightweight frame of about 1,700 pounds, which paired up to a tiny 656cc engine. The top speed reached 84 miles per hour, and despite a much-lauded driving experience, the 0-60 mph test was a pretty slow 13 seconds.
Chevrolet Cavalier
The Cavalier is rather unexpectedly slow for its sporty look. Despite Chevrolet dropping a 2.2-liter engine in the vehicle in 1992, it was also rather heavy for a small car at 2,600 pounds.
Ultimately, the aggressive look didn’t translate into huge performance, and it could reach 60 mph in about 10 seconds.
1990s Toyota Corolla
In the early 1990s, Toyota produced a slower Corolla. The 1.3-liter engine in the GLI edition only put out 74 horsepower and had a top speed of 99 mph. The 0-60 time was about 11.2 seconds. Like many slower vehicles, the Corolla was more of a gas mileage champion, with up to 43 mpg on the highway.
1990s Subaru Impreza
Subaru introduced the Impreza to the United States in the 1990s. Internationally, the Impreza grew a cult following for its prowess as a rally car and its trick all-wheel-drive system, but this clearly did not filter down to the lowly road-going models.
Ironically, the AWD system that made the Impreza go around corners quickly also slows the car down in a straight line. The 1.8-liter engine wasn’t exactly spirited and could reach 60 mph in slightly over 12 seconds.
Smart Fortwo CDI
Smart designed everything about the Fortwo to reduce emissions. The Fortwo’s engine offered the lowest emissions for a production vehicle at the time, with 88 grams of CO2 per kilometer.
Letting out minimal emissions also meant that the Smart Fortwo was slow. In the first year of its launch in 2007, the vehicle displacement was only 799cc, which made it crawl from 0 to 60 mph in about 19 seconds.
1990s Toyota Land Cruiser
You’ll want to give the older Land Cruisers about 16 seconds to get up to speed (circa 1996). The Land Cruiser is a big vehicle, though not as large as the Hummer. Toyota installed a 6-cylinder engine in the vehicle, which wasn’t quite big enough to make the off-road vehicle quick.
Hummer H1
The 1990s produced some big vehicles. The Hummer H1 literally stands out, as it was originally a military vehicle built with extra ground clearance. Even V8 power couldn’t help the 1992 Hummer, which weighed about 6,000 pounds—the 0-60 mph time clocked in around 21 seconds.
Slow Vehicles Tend to Be More Efficient or Cost Less
The lazy acceleration and low top speeds of some cars were caused in part by government regulations for fuel emissions, which led to the introduction of cars made to meet those standards. Some cars, like the Ford Ka and Toyota Corolla, were slower because more powerful engines would cost drivers more money. You may be thankful now that American cars are capable of an average 0-60 mph time of just under 8 seconds since 2021.
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