diff --git a/sqlx-mysql/src/options/connect.rs b/sqlx-mysql/src/options/connect.rs
index e6a8600272..0b52a761bb 100644
--- a/sqlx-mysql/src/options/connect.rs
+++ b/sqlx-mysql/src/options/connect.rs
@@ -46,22 +46,36 @@ impl ConnectOptions for MySqlConnectOptions {
 
             // https://mathiasbynens.be/notes/mysql-utf8mb4
 
-            let mut options = String::new();
+            let mut sql_mode = Vec::new();
             if self.pipes_as_concat {
-                options.push_str(r#"SET sql_mode=(SELECT CONCAT(@@sql_mode, ',PIPES_AS_CONCAT,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION')),"#);
-            } else {
-                options.push_str(
-                    r#"SET sql_mode=(SELECT CONCAT(@@sql_mode, ',NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION')),"#,
-                );
+                sql_mode.push(r#"PIPES_AS_CONCAT"#);
+            }
+            if self.no_engine_subsitution {
+                sql_mode.push(r#"NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION"#);
+            }
+
+            let mut options = Vec::new();
+            if !sql_mode.is_empty() {
+                options.push(format!(
+                    r#"sql_mode=(SELECT CONCAT(@@sql_mode, ',{}'))"#,
+                    sql_mode.join(",")
+                ));
+            }
+            if let Some(timezone) = &self.timezone {
+                options.push(format!(r#"time_zone='{}'"#, timezone));
+            }
+            if self.set_names {
+                options.push(format!(
+                    r#"NAMES {} COLLATE {}"#,
+                    conn.stream.charset.as_str(),
+                    conn.stream.collation.as_str()
+                ))
+            }
+
+            if !options.is_empty() {
+                conn.execute(&*format!(r#"SET {};"#, options.join(",")))
+                    .await?;
             }
-            options.push_str(r#"time_zone='+00:00',"#);
-            options.push_str(&format!(
-                r#"NAMES {} COLLATE {};"#,
-                conn.stream.charset.as_str(),
-                conn.stream.collation.as_str()
-            ));
-
-            conn.execute(&*options).await?;
 
             Ok(conn)
         })
diff --git a/sqlx-mysql/src/options/mod.rs b/sqlx-mysql/src/options/mod.rs
index a797576937..1aaab0ead7 100644
--- a/sqlx-mysql/src/options/mod.rs
+++ b/sqlx-mysql/src/options/mod.rs
@@ -77,6 +77,9 @@ pub struct MySqlConnectOptions {
     pub(crate) log_settings: LogSettings,
     pub(crate) pipes_as_concat: bool,
     pub(crate) enable_cleartext_plugin: bool,
+    pub(crate) no_engine_subsitution: bool,
+    pub(crate) timezone: Option<String>,
+    pub(crate) set_names: bool,
 }
 
 impl Default for MySqlConnectOptions {
@@ -105,6 +108,9 @@ impl MySqlConnectOptions {
             log_settings: Default::default(),
             pipes_as_concat: true,
             enable_cleartext_plugin: false,
+            no_engine_subsitution: true,
+            timezone: Some(String::from("+00:00")),
+            set_names: true,
         }
     }
 
@@ -333,6 +339,65 @@ impl MySqlConnectOptions {
         self.enable_cleartext_plugin = flag_val;
         self
     }
+
+    /// Flag that enables or disables the `NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION` sql_mode setting after
+    /// connection.
+    ///
+    /// If not set, if the available storage engine specified by a `CREATE TABLE` is not available,
+    /// a warning is given and the default storage engine is used instead.
+    ///
+    /// By default, this is `true` (`NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION` is passed, forbidding engine
+    /// substitution).
+    ///
+    /// https://mariadb.com/kb/en/sql-mode/
+    pub fn no_engine_subsitution(mut self, flag_val: bool) -> Self {
+        self.no_engine_subsitution = flag_val;
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// If `Some`, sets the `time_zone` option to the given string after connecting to the database.
+    ///
+    /// If `None`, no `time_zone` parameter is sent; the server timezone will be used instead.
+    ///
+    /// Defaults to `Some(String::from("+00:00"))` to ensure all timestamps are in UTC.
+    ///
+    /// ### Warning
+    /// Changing this setting from its default will apply an unexpected skew to any
+    /// `time::OffsetDateTime` or `chrono::DateTime<Utc>` value, whether passed as a parameter or
+    /// decoded as a result. `TIMESTAMP` values are not encoded with their UTC offset in the MySQL
+    /// protocol, so encoding and decoding of these types assumes the server timezone is *always*
+    /// UTC.
+    ///
+    /// If you are changing this option, ensure your application only uses
+    /// `time::PrimitiveDateTime` or `chrono::NaiveDateTime` and that it does not assume these
+    /// timestamps can be placed on a real timeline without applying the proper offset.
+    pub fn timezone(mut self, value: impl Into<Option<String>>) -> Self {
+        self.timezone = value.into();
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// If enabled, `SET NAMES '{charset}' COLLATE '{collation}'` is passed with the values of
+    /// [`.charset()`] and [`.collation()`] after connecting to the database.
+    ///
+    /// This ensures the connection uses the specified character set and collation.
+    ///
+    /// Enabled by default.
+    ///
+    /// ### Warning
+    /// If this is disabled and the default charset is not binary-compatible with UTF-8, query
+    /// strings, column names and string values will likely not decode (or encode) correctly, which
+    /// may result in unexpected errors or garbage outputs at runtime.
+    ///
+    /// For proper functioning, you *must* ensure the server is using a binary-compatible charset,
+    /// such as ASCII or Latin-1 (ISO 8859-1), and that you do not pass any strings containing
+    /// codepoints not supported by said charset.
+    ///
+    /// Instead of disabling this, you may also consider setting [`.charset()`] to a charset that
+    /// is supported by your MySQL or MariaDB server version and compatible with UTF-8.
+    pub fn set_names(mut self, flag_val: bool) -> Self {
+        self.set_names = flag_val;
+        self
+    }
 }
 
 impl MySqlConnectOptions {