It was not really a fast carA Trans Am was chosen for the Bandit to drive because it was a V8-powered muscle car that looked exceedingly cool. Nobody can argue that a 1977 Trans Am looks cool, but the performance figures are less than impressive. By 1977, EPA regulations for automobiles were in full effect and the heyday of the muscle car with huge horsepower figures was long gone.Choking engines with anti-smog equipment along with a lack of sophisticated computerized controls left a 6.6-liter V8 Trans Am with nothing more than 200 horsepower. For comparison, a 2019 Ford Taurus family sedan with a 3.5-liter V6, almost half the size of the V8, outputs 288 horsepower. The Trans Am torque rating was still a respectable 325 ft-lb, but that performance still pales in comparison to today's sports cars and barely competes with modern family haulers. In the end, none of that matters much on screen as long as Burt Reynolds looked cool in the car, and he accomplished that in spades.