If the ODBC driver is highly optimized it may be usable, but you'll probably need to make calls directly to the ODBC API to get the best performance. In fact, ADO can be as fast as the ODBC API, as I'll discuss later. It is true that ADO is another layer of software, but ADO efficiently uses the underlying OLE DB Provider layer, and the technology in OLE DB often provides better performance than the old ODBC drivers. Compared with ODBC, ADO requires a smaller amount of less complex code. Books have been written about the ODBC API, with good reason.
ODBC code can be verbose and intricate.
ADO hides much of the complexity of database programming in a clean object model with an elegant COM interface. ADO is the successor to DAO and RDO, which have gained popularity because their object models offer easy development. This versatility enables developers to use ADO at any level or tier in their applications.