Yahoo Autos Meet Our 2025 Performance EV of the Year Contenders
Since we first launched our Performance EV of the Year test last year, the field has only improved. If you're an enthusiast seeking a capable, fun, and sporty electric car, your options are better than ever. To find out which is truly the best of the best, we brought seven of the top EVs out to upstate New York, tested them under the fall foliage on road and track, and sat through dozens of charging cycles.
The full story will drop on Thursday Nov. 21. But, for now, get to know the contenders of this test, and let us know which you think took the win in the comments below.
Acura ZDX Type S
"On the easygoing route of this media drive, the ZDX Type S proved mannered, quiet, and always composed. All that is completely unsurprising. What is surprising was uncovered during an impromptu blitz up nearby Figueroa Mountain Road. During this tight, twisty rise to the mountaintop, the ZDX proved agile, powerful, and precise. It’s a big thing, so it fills a small road pretty completely, but it never gets discombobulated either. Maybe there’s even a hint of Integra S Type in its soul."-R&T, May 2024
Price: $74,850
Engine: 102 kWh lithium-ion
Output: 499 hp, 544 lb-ft of torque
Transmission: One-speed automatic, AWD
Curb Weight: 5938 pounds
0-60 mph: 4.3 seconds
BMW i5 M60
"The first thing this car has to do in order not to fail right out of the driveway is excite. If it's going to have an M on its flank, it has to get the electrons whirling in your imagination. And it does. The sedan's 593 hp and 3.3-second 0-to-60-mph sprint deliver amusement-park giddiness. At one point, while entering a bridge section that offered a sweeping view forward—i.e., an instant acknowledgment that there was no oncoming traffic, particularly traffic bearing official government decals—I floored the accelerator. My speed doubled within the span of three or four heartbeats. Torque is a sporty electric vehicle's calling card."- R&T, October 2024
Price: $84,100
Powertrain: 84.3 kWh 400 V lithium-ion battery pack
Output: 593 hp, 586 lb-ft of torque
Transmission: One-speed automatic, AWD
Curb Weight: 5247 pounds
0-60 mph: 3.3-seconds
Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally
Find dirt, turn everything off, and playtime awaits. Instantly, the Mustang Mach-E Rally makes a strange kind of sense. Instant torque can create four-wheel spin on low-grip surfaces, even up to about 30 mph. The predictability of a slide and the subtlety with which it can be adjusted really sets the Rally apart from even the Dakar and Sterrato, despite the huge difference in price. And the transitions! The Rally can open, close, loosen, tighten, and swap radiuses at will.- R&T, November 2024
Price: $60,990
Engine: 91kWh liquid-cooled, lithium-ion battery pack
Output: 480 hp, 700 lb-ft of torque
Transmission: One-speed automatic, AWD
Curb Weight: 4972 pounds
0-60 mph: 3.3 seconds
Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
"The idea is that the all-electric 5 N provides the same inputs and outputs as you get when driving internal-combustion cars hard, particularly on-track where you watch only the road ahead of you, listening and feeling for how the car reacts, judging your speed by engine tone in a given gear. All this fakery might seem goofy, sure, but there is a practicality to it. It’s designed so that anyone without EV experience can hop into the 5 N and be fast."-R&T, June 2024
Price: $67,475
Engine: 84.0 kWh 697 V lithium-ion battery pack
Output: 641 hp, 568 lb-ft of torque
Transmission: One-speed automatic, AWD
Curb Weight: 4849 pounds
0-60 mph: 3.0 seconds
Lucid Air Sapphire
"Leveraging the torque vectoring enabled by adding the second rear motor, the Sapphire can be hustled around the big NASCAR course at Sonoma with dramatic alacrity. It takes a set entering the corner and then the tail can be felt catching up as the apex approaches. Accelerated past that apex and the nose grabs first with the hind end almost pushing it toward the exit. This isn’t a car that needs nth-level skill to rip around at stunning velocities; even my grandmother could do it efficiently. And she passed away in 1993."-R&T, October 2023
Price: $250,500
Engine: 118 kWh 900 V lithium-ion battery pack
Output: 1234 hp, 1430 lb-ft of torque
Transmission: One-speed automatic, AWD
Curb Weight: 5236 pounds
0-60 mph: 1.9 seconds
Porsche Taycan Turbo GT
"Yet while the Turbo GT is capable of delivering accelerative forces that get close to painful, that's not the most striking part of the experience. As with many sharp-end EVs, the lack of combustion fury or punctuation of gear changes makes the acceleration feel otherworldly... and strangely unsatisfying. It’s like the numbers on the speedometer haven’t been earned. The chance to make a launch control start on Monteblanco’s main straight produced G-loads not far removed from a rear-end collision, but didn’t make me want to repeat the experience regularly."-R&T, April 2024
Price: $231,995
Engine: 105 kWh 800 V lithium-ion battery pack
Output: 1092-hp, 988 lb-ft of torque
Transmission: Two-speed automatic, AWD
Curb Weight: 4950–5100 pounds
0-60 mph: 2.0 seconds
Tesla Model 3 Performance
Our initial skepticism of Tesla's Model 3 Performance waned as its rear end politely tucked itself back in, having completed a nearly perfect on-throttle rotation. Ascending the back end of New York Safety Track, the dual electric motor model featured a tuneable torque split, with the track-side Tesla engineer overruling our better judgment and encouraging us to set it rear-biased. Instead of a battery-laden, 4000-pound sport sedan, the weight distribution of Tesla's biggest bargain reminded us more of our favorite German sport sedans (think E36), steering with the rear as our deities intended.
Price: $56,630
Engine: 79.7 kWh liquid-cooled lithium-ion
Output: 510 hp, 554 lb-ft of torque
Transmission: One-speed automatic, AWD
Curb Weight: 4046 pounds
0-60 mph: 2.8 seconds
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