Five most powerful new cars for under $60K

So you’ve got about $60,000 to spend on a new car or SUV and you want something with as many kiloWatts as possible, but the death of the Kia Stinger and Ford Mustang’s push upmarket has left you in a bind.

Where do you turn? What do you buy?

Well fear not because we’ve studied the market and compiled a list of the five most powerful new vehicles available in Australia right now for less than $60,000 (plus on-road costs).

Before we get started it should be made clear this isn’t necessarily a list of the fastest sub-$60K vehicles on the market, but rather the ones packing the most power to help you one-up the other parents in the drop-off zone or outdo your mates at the pub.

Available from $59,990 plus on-road costs, the 2024 MG4 XPOWER is the indisputable kW-per-dollar king because it packs 320kW/600Nm courtesy of a dual-motor battery-electric drivetrain.

All that electric performance yields a 0-100km/h acceleration time of 3.8 seconds, which also makes the XPOWER the fastest sub-$60,000 new car available by quite some margin, even though that’s not what this listicle is about.

This one might come as bit of surprise to a lot of readers, but the second most powerful vehicle offered in Australia for less than $60,000 is the GWM Tank 300 Lux Hybrid, which retails from $55,990 drive-away.

The off-road SUV combines a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine with an electric motor to deliver combined outputs of 255kW/648Nm, the latter of which also happens to deem it the torquiest model available for under 60 grand both in its sales segment and the overall market.

There was a lot of hype surrounding the release of the BYD Seal last year and the all-new electric sports sedan (yes, it’s the second EV in this list, as well as the third Chinese-made model) has largely delivered on its sporty styling and value-focused positioning.

Each variant has a different power output and the mid-range Premium version ($58,798 plus ORCs) has a single-motor EV powertrain humming out a handy 230kW/360Nm – 40kW more than the equivalent Tesla Model 3.

Another shock inclusion in this list is the tremendously family-friendly Kia Carnival S, which starts from just $47,480 plus on-road costs and delivers its deceptive kiloWatt count from a 3.5-litre petrol V6.

By power of deduction then, outputs of 216kW/355Nm actually make the V6-powered people-mover Australia’s the most powerful non-electrified vehicle priced under $50,000 as well as $60,000.

Hot on the Carnival’s heals but offering way more performance is the $55,500 Hyundai Sonata N-Line sports sedan from another Korean brand, thanks to its 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine.

Said force-fed four-banger churns out a front tyre-scrambling 213kW/422Nm, which is actually more than any of Hyundai’s internal combustion N cars, although because it’s an N-Line the Sonata misses out on goodies like adaptive dampers and a limited-slip differential.

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