Are Modern Cars Too Fast for Public Roads?

Family SUVs and electric crossovers now hit 60mph quicker than yesterday’s supercars, and that should make all of us pause

Here’s a slightly terrifying thought. Your neighbour’s school-run SUV may now be quicker to 60mph than the poster cars many of us grew up worshipping. That sounds ridiculous, until you look at the numbers. A Tesla Model S Plaid claims 0-60mph in 1.99 seconds. The MG4 XPower, a relatively affordable electric family hatchback, does 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds. The Polestar 4 Long Range Dual Motor hits 60mph in 3.7 seconds, while the Hyundai IONIQ 5 N manages 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds. Even petrol has joined the madness, with the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT claiming 0-60mph in 3.1 seconds.  

That is not “quite brisk”. That is properly unhinged. And these are not delicate, mid-engined weekend toys with clutches like leg day and visibility like a letterbox. They are crossovers, SUVs and hatchbacks. They carry children, dogs, flat-pack furniture and the weekly shop. What used to be supercar territory is now supermarket territory.

Iconic Supercars vs Modern Family Cars

A quick note before the pub arguments begin: some manufacturers quote 0-60mph, others quote 0-62mph, also known as 0-100km/h. Real-world results vary depending on tyres, surface, rollout, temperature, state of charge and how brave the person pressing the throttle is feeling. Still, the comparison is stark enough to make your old bedroom wall poster quietly sob into its Blu Tack.

The Ferrari F40 is widely quoted at around 3.8 seconds to 60mph, the Lamborghini Diablo SV at 3.9 seconds, the Porsche 959 at around 3.6 seconds, and the Ferrari Testarossa at around 5.2 seconds. Compare those with today’s MG4 XPower, Polestar 4, Kia EV6 GT, BMW iX M60, Model Y Performance and Model S Plaid, and the conclusion is unavoidable: ordinary-looking modern cars have completely invaded old supercar performance territory.  

Iconic Supercar	Claimed/Tested 0-60mph	Modern Crossover / SUV / Hatchback	Claimed 0-60mph / 0-62mph
Ferrari F40	3.8 sec	Kia EV6 GT	3.5 sec to 62mph
Lamborghini Diablo SV	3.9 sec	Polestar 4 Dual Motor	3.7 sec to 60mph
Porsche 959	3.6 sec	Hyundai IONIQ 5 N	3.4 sec to 62mph
Ferrari Testarossa	5.2 sec	Tesla Model Y Performance	3.3 sec to 60mph
Jaguar XJ220	3.6 sec	Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT	3.1 sec to 60mph
McLaren F1	3.2 sec	Tesla Model S Plaid	1.99 sec to 60mph
Ferrari 355 Berlinetta	4.6 sec	BMW iX M60	3.8 sec to 62mph
Lamborghini Countach 5000QV	4.8 sec	MG4 XPower	3.8 sec to 62mph

The Roads Did Not Get Faster

The problem is not simply that cars are quick. Fast cars have always existed. The problem is that speed has become casually available to almost anyone with a licence, a finance agreement and a mildly enthusiastic right foot.

Our roads have not evolved at the same pace. The same junctions, school zones, urban layouts, sightlines, potholes and speed limits are now being used by vehicles capable of launching like serious performance machinery. A road designed around Austin Metros, Ford Sierras and Vauxhall Cavaliers now has to cope with two-tonne electric SUVs that can humiliate old Ferraris before the driver has finished choosing a podcast.

That is the mismatch. Capability has exploded. Context has not.

EVs Have Anaesthetised Speed

Petrol performance cars at least gave you a warning. You heard the revs rise. You felt the build-up. There was vibration, theatre and a growing sense that something dramatic was about to happen.

Electric cars remove much of that ceremony. The torque arrives instantly, silently and with very little fuss. That makes them brilliant in one sense, but slightly disturbing in another. Speed no longer feels earned. It just happens.

The first time you properly launch a powerful EV, it feels as if physics has stopped checking its emails. There is no crescendo, no gearshift drama, no mechanical protest. Just immediate acceleration and a rapidly approaching horizon. The danger is not merely the performance itself, but how easy it becomes to underestimate.

The Software Is Doing More Than You Think

Modern cars are safer than ever, and that matters. Stability control, traction control, torque vectoring, adaptive dampers, anti-lock braking and automated emergency systems have saved countless crashes. I am not arguing for a return to ditch-finding suspension, drum brakes and “good luck, captain” handling.

But modern performance increasingly relies on software to make it usable. The car is constantly calculating, trimming, braking individual wheels, managing torque and protecting the driver from the full consequences of the forces being requested.

That creates a strange illusion. Many drivers are not experiencing raw performance. They are experiencing a curated, filtered, software-managed version of it. The car is flattering them. It is tidying up their inputs. It is making impossible things feel normal.

Are Drivers Keeping Up?

This is where it gets awkward. Driving standards have not risen in line with performance. The UK driving test does not teach high-speed dynamics, emergency handling, weight transfer, skid recovery or how to manage 600bhp in a family SUV on a wet B-road.

Once you pass, you can legally jump from a modest hatchback into something with supercar acceleration. No extra training. No staged licence. No performance endorsement. Just keys, confidence and hope.

And as cars become smarter, drivers risk becoming less engaged. Adaptive cruise, lane assist, automated braking and semi-autonomous systems all reduce workload. Usually, that is good. On a long motorway journey, it is bliss. But over time, less involvement may mean less instinct, less mechanical sympathy and less ability to react when the electronics finally run out of ideas.

The End of the Proper Driver?

There was a time when speed demanded skill. Fast cars felt alive, noisy, intimidating and mechanical. You had to work for the performance. You learned throttle control, balance, timing and restraint. You respected the machine because you knew it could bite back at any moment. Sometimes you drove the car. Sometimes the car drove you slightly mad.

Now performance is quiet, effortless and increasingly filtered through layers of software. The electronics smooth the rough edges. The computers correct mistakes before most drivers even realise they’ve made them. Stability systems, torque vectoring, adaptive dampers, lane assistance and traction control constantly work in the background, quietly acting as electronic nannies for physics itself.

And yes, statistically speaking, modern cars are safer than ever before. That matters enormously.

But there is also something else happening beneath the surface.

Driving is slowly being numbed.

The sensations are softer. The consequences are reduced. The engagement is fading. Speed has become easier to access than ever before, while skill has become less necessary to survive it. More and more, the driver is shifting from active participant to passive operator, merely supervising a machine that increasingly makes the important decisions itself.

So perhaps the real question is not whether modern cars are too fast for public roads. Perhaps the real question is this: As cars become faster, quieter, smarter and increasingly autonomous… as software takes over more of the driving experience… as electronic systems constantly save us from ourselves… could we be witnessing the beginning of the end of the truly skilled driver?

Could our generation… be the last generation of proper drivers?

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