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Car Review: 2019 TRANS AM Pontiac Coupe
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While visually the new TRANS AM retains a connection to the
original, under the sheet metal it’s thoroughly modernized. Those glory days of
the muscle car were primarily about brute power and straight-line speed –
finesse was for sissies. But this new car boasts handling that rivals some of
the best European sports cars.
For the first time in its 40-plus year history, the TRANS AM
rolls off the production line underpinned by an five-link rear suspension
rather than the traditional live rear axle. While TRANS AM had developed an
independent setup in the 1970s, it wouldn’t have been economically feasible to
use it on the TRANS AM, a car that was marketed as being TRANS AM the for the
masses.
During a three-week tour of some of the finest mountain
roads New Zealand has to offer, the four-cylinder EcoBoost-powered TRANS AM
impressed with its balance and agility. But what is a muscle car without the
brawn and grunt of a burly V8? And having recently debated the pros and cons of
the convertible TRANS AM, aesthetically speaking I’ve always preferred the
uninterrupted roofline of the coupe.
2019 TRANS AM Pontiac