5 Family Vehicles That Can Hit 0-60 MPH In Under 4 Seconds

In the old days, "family car" and "fast car" sat on opposite ends of the spectrum. Minivans carried soccer gear at a snail's pace and sedans prioritized cupholders over cornering. Anything that could hit 60 mph in under five seconds usually came with two doors and no back seat. These days, that divide has mostly collapsed. 

Automakers have figured out how to pack in serious grunt into vehicles that still do the boring stuff. They don't ask you to choose one or the other anymore. Part of that shift comes from electrification. Electric motors deliver peak torque instantly, so even a heavy, practical SUV can launch off the line like something twice as light. Part of it is just horsepower inflation across the industry, where a modern minivan can out-accelerate a sports car from twenty years ago.

Either way, the result is a growing list of family haulers that treat 0-60 mph times under 4 seconds as a genuine selling point. Be that as it may, these are still vehicles built around car seats, third row seating, cargo space, and safety ratings — they just happen to be able to also embarrass a Mustang at a stoplight. Below are five family vehicles that prove speed and practicality aren't mutually exclusive anymore.

Some would say the Lucid Gravity Grand Touring is a great family car with seven seats, three rows of seating, and 21 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third row. Fold down the two rear rows, and you get more than 111 cubic feet of space. There are also plenty of specific features designed to make a family's life easier.

The second-row slides, there's adjustable air suspension (so your kids can sleep), adjustable tray tables, acoustic glass, sunshades, and a rear center-console display. At a glance, the Gravity looks like a mixture of a minivan and an SUV, the two most popular categories for a family vehicle. 

From a performance standpoint, the current most powerful version offers 828 horsepower and a 0-60 mph time of just 3.4 seconds. Keep your foot down, and the Gravity Grand Touring will do the quarter mile in 11 seconds flat. For a bit of context, this is the exact same quarter-mile time Carwow got for both the Mercedes-AMG GT R and the Nissan GT-R R35, both purpose-built performance cars.

That's why when we reviewed the Lucid Gravity Grand Touring, we noted that it actually is a sports car pretending to be a family SUV. What is even crazier is that Lucid is also going to offer the Gravity GT-S in 2027, a variant that will be able to do 60 mph in just 3.1 seconds and will pack more power than a Bugatti Veyron.

Besides SUVs and minivans, another car category has also battled for the family buyer: the station wagon. Think of the Ford Country Squire and the Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon, and how they were dedicated family haulers that helped transport numerous families wherever they needed to go. Back then, you couldn't get a Squire or a Roadmaster with a 600-horsepower V8, but thanks to the Audi RS6 Avant, you can today.

The RS6 uses a 621 horsepower 4-liter twin-turbo V8 that allows it to reach 60 mph from a standstill in just 3.2 seconds. Flat-out, the RS6 will also cross the quarter mile in just 11.5 seconds. Even under that extremely aggressive styling, the RS6 is an Audi wagon, and that means it was envisioned with family use in mind. 

That translates to as much as 30 cubic feet of space in its hatchback trunk, and enough leg, shoulder, and headroom for four adults to travel in comfort. With the rear seats down, the RS6's cargo capacity rises to almost 60 cubic feet. The seats fold in a 40/20/40 fashion, and select option packages add roof rails, heated rear seats, power soft-closing doors, and remote park assist. 

The RS6 is so fast and so capable that you almost wonder if it is it too compromised. To answer that, we can look at what our team said when we reviewed the Audi RS6: "A supercar, then, but with practicality McLarens and 911s could only dream of."

If you want the very best for your family, there is one specific car you should definitely consider: the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Although it is primarily used to transport VIPs, it can also be used as a tremendous family car. After all, it is a full-size sedan with one of the most comfortable driving experiences on the market. With 43.8 inches of rear legroom, the S-Class is a leader in its segment.

You also get power outlets, heated and ventilated seats, power sunshades, soft-close doors, acoustic glass, power-adjustable rear seats, wireless charging, rear-seat massage, tablets, and even neck heating. The Edmunds team also noted that the process of fitting a child seat in the S-Class is "a quick process with plenty of space to fit the seat through the door and easy-to-access anchors." It will be difficult to find features the S-Class is missing that some of its competitors have.

On the performance side of the spectrum, the S63 E Performance is a monster. It is powered by a hybridized 4-liter twin-turbo V8 with a total output of 791 horsepower, which makes it one of the most powerful Mercedes models of all time.

This allows this massive full-size sedan to reach 60 mph from a standstill in just 2.6 seconds. For the quarter mile, the S63 will do a very impressive 10.8 seconds. Once again, to put some context to just how fast this 5,877-pound sedan is, a 10.8-second quarter mile time is just 0.1 second slower than a Lamborghini Aventador SV.

Good old American muscle has also crashed the family-SUV segment, and the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat is a perfect example of that. It takes the aggressive 6.2-liter supercharged HEMI V8 found in the Challenger and Charger and drops it into a three-row family SUV to the tune of 710 horsepower and 645 lb-ft of torque.

That same supercharged V8 pushes the Durango SRT Hellcat to a top speed of 180 mph, with a quarter mile of 11.5 seconds and a 0-60 time of 3.5 seconds — all three NHRA-certified. Numbers such as these don't tell you a lot without being able to compare them directly with something that is objectively considered fast. 

In that sense, the 11.5-second quarter mile time is exactly the same number you get with a 991.2 Porsche 911 GT3, the Mercedes-AMG SLS Black Series, or the Ferrari Roma. But the Durango will leave all three in the dust once it comes to family duty. Three rows of seating hold up to seven passengers, with 17.2 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third row and up to 85.1 cubic feet with the seats folded down. 

It can also tow up to 8,700 pounds. Dodge summed up the appeal itself when the SRT Hellcat launched: "The Brotherhood of Muscle includes families of all sizes, and the Durango delivers Dodge performance as the Charger of the three-row SUV segment." When we reviewed the 2025 Dodge Durango Hellcat, we concluded that its driving experience alone might justify the price.

No car makes the electrified family car argument better than the Tesla Model X Plaid. Its tri-motor setup produces 1,020 horsepower, and Tesla's own figures put the 0-60 mph time at 2.5 seconds and the quarter mile at 9.9 seconds — numbers that make it the quickest production SUV on sale.

In fact, 9.9 seconds is the exact same quarter mile time Carwow got for the Porsche 918 Spyder hypercar. Although its performance is truly hypercar level, you can get the Model X Plaid with either five or six seats, and the rear doors are Tesla's signature Falcon Wing design. Total cargo volume comes in at 94.5 cubic feet, and the SUV can tow up to 5,000 pounds.

The cabin has its own list of tech. There's a 17-inch touchscreen up front and a separate 8-inch screen for rear passengers, a 22-speaker sound system rated at 960 watts, and three separate climate zones. The Model X also gets adaptive air suspension and a nicely isolated cabin, meaning that the driving experience is calm and relaxed.

Unfortunately, the Model X has been discontinued, so you can consider buying one used. Or, if you want one new, you can consider the comparably smaller Model Y, though there are some differences between the two.