In Mario Kart World, karts and bikes come with stats inherent to the vehicle, and you can't swap out parts to min-max your kart's stats like in Mario Kart 8. Of the eleven karts players have access to at the start of the game, some are better for beginners and offer balanced stats, or stats that favor Handling and Acceleration, which can come in handy when learning the game or when recovering from slowdowns.
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But the best starting karts in Mario Kart World offer players who know the game's mechanics, and don't mind sacrificing Acceleration and Handling for Speed, great rides from the beginning that are still worth using after unlocking new vehicles later on. This list of the best karts Mario Kart World players start with ranks all eleven beginning karts based on their vehicle stats, giving favor to vehicles with a high Speed stat.
7 Funky Dorrie
- Speed: Medium to High
- Acceleration: Medium to High
- Weight: Medium to High
- Handling: Low
Of all the starter karts in Mario Kart World, the Funky Dorrie has the worst arrangement of stats for all Light, Medium, and Heavy characters. Though it has decent speed and acceleration, its a very heavy kart that you will find harder to turn than normal, and its handling is the worst of any starting kart across all character types.
The Funky Dorrie might have the best design of any starting kart – it's a jet ski on wheels that's inspired by Dorrie from Super Mario 64, what's not to love? But when it comes to hard stats, this is far from the best Mario Kart World starting kart.
6 Standard Kart & Plushbuggy
- Speed: Medium to High
- Acceleration: Medium
- Weight: Medium
- Handling: Medium
Though it's nothing special to look at, the Standard Kart has balanced stats that will suit just about every racer. It's not the best kart in Mario Kart World, but it's far from the worst, and you should fare perfectly fine in most races in MKW. The Standard Kart has medium stats in just about every category – however, Light and Extra Light characters should beware, as the Speed stat loss for these weight categories makes the Standard Kart a bad pick.
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Light and Extra Light characters generally have lower Speed stats than other characters, but tend to offer better Handling and Weight. If you're playing a small character, consider picking a kart with a higher Speed stat to compensate for their inherent Speed loss.
The Plushbuggy and the Standard Kart have the same stats.
5 Baby Blooper
- Speed: Medium
- Acceleration: Medium to High
- Weight: Low to Medium
- Handling: Medium
Compared to the Standard Kart, the Baby Blooper sacrifices a little bit of Speed but gains a lower Weight, better Handling, and higher Acceleration. Generally, this means you will be able to handle curvy tracks and tight corners much easier and recover from slowdowns faster.
Having a higher Speed tends to be better for high-end play as players can use their skill and knowledge of tracks to mitigate the lower Acceleration and Handling stats. But the Speed loss is very minor on the Baby Blooper compared to the Standard Kart, and gaining benefits in all three other stats makes it practically a strict improvement.
4 Standard Bike & Cute Scoot
- Speed: Low to Medium
- Acceleration: High
- Weight: Low
- Handling: High
The Standard Bike is not necessarily a bad bike, they it is a bit basic. The Standard Bike can't go as fast as the Rally Bike or Mach Rocket, though its Acceleration is slightly better. They weigh the same as the other two Mario Kart World starter bikes, but the Handling of the default bike is slightly better than the other two.
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In general, the differences between the starter bikes matter less than the character who rides them. But if you really want to choose a bike over a kart, go with the Rally Bike for a bit more speed, or the Mach Rocket if you feel confident in your ability to maintain speed without slowing down, thanks to its low Acceleration but very high Speed stats.
The Plushbuggy and the Standard Kart have the same stats.
3 Rally Bike
- Speed: Medium to High
- Acceleration: Medium to High
- Weight: Medium
- Handling: Medium
The Rally Bike is one of the best Mario Kart World bikes because it has a balanced stat arrangement that leans high in most categories for all character weights. It offers high Speed and extremely high Acceleration for most characters (except Light and Extra Light), and its handling is at 2 or over for all character weights, even for Heavy characters.
The Rally Bike loses out to the Rally Kart and Mach Rocket on sheer speed alone. But don't let that deter you – the Rally Bike is one of best vehicles Mario Kart World players can use from the start of the game, but the Rally Kart and Mach Rocket just beat this one when it comes to Speed.
2 Rally Kart & Zoom Buggy
- Speed: High
- Acceleration: Medium to High
- Weight: Medium
- Handling: Medium
The Rally Kart is a faster, slightly heavier kart compared to the Standard Kart with a slightly lower Handling rating. However, in the right hands, the Rally Kart's top speed is among the highest of the best starting karts in Mario Kart World.
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Generally, the faster the car, the better it is, but only if you can figure out how to manage lower Handling and maintain top speed more often during a race. If you feel confident in your ability to drift and take advantage of the new mechanics in Mario Kart World to maintain your top speed, pick the Rally Kart over the Standard Kart.
The Zoom Buggy and the Rally Kart have the same stats.
1 Mach Rocket
- Speed: High
- Acceleration: Medium to High
- Weight: Medium
- Handling: Medium
Compared to the Rally Bike, the Mach Rocket sacrifices a little bit of Acceleration to get a bit more Speed. In the hands of a player who doesn't crash much and can maintain their top speed, the Mach Rocket is a solid upgrade over the Rally Bike, though the difference is pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things.
If you want a fast bike with good handling and don't mind it taking a little longer to ramp up to max speed, choose the Mach Rocket over the Rally Bike.
Mario Kart World
- Released
- June 5, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Everyone // Mild Fantasy Violence, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
- Prequel(s)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Franchise
- Mario Kart
- Number of Players
- 1-24
- Genre(s)
- Racing, Open-World
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch 2
