- 1,115
- Rivera
- Tsukishima-TDUDT
The Subaru Baja (pronounced ba-ha) is an all-wheel-drive, four passenger, four-door, open-bed vehicle manufactured from 2002 to 2006 by Subaru.
Working with technical support from Subaru Japan, a team led by Peter Tenn, Subaru senior designer, penned the Baja in the United States. According to an August, 2002 interview with Tenn, "the Baja's jarring look is homage to rally-race trucks. It's supposed to look funky, look different. It doesn't fit any category, and we knew that going in. It's not like anything else on the road. And that's important to a lot of people."
The Baja followed closely Subaru's ST-X (Sport Truck X-perimental) concept vehicle presented at the 2000 North American International Auto Show, and also designed by a special Subaru America design team. The ST-X offered a greater complement of features than the production Baja (power rear window, under floor storage compartment, tailgate cup holders), but nevertheless set the production groundwork for an Outback-based, four-door, car-truck hybrid.
In a package 150 mm (6 in) longer than an Outback, the Baja featured a four-door passenger compartment along with a 1,040 mm (41 in) open bed and drop-down tailgate. A system marketed as the "Switchback" allowed the rear passenger seat to fold down and a small thru-hatch to fold inward, allowing an extended length of 1,900 mm (75 in) to the end of the open tailgate. A light in the instrument cluster signaled an "open" status for the Switchback. The design featured two stainless steel exposed buttresses[1] behind the passenger compartment, marketed as Sports Bars, providing structural reinforcement for the open bed.
Feature details included tinted rear door windows and rear window; an integrated bed liner; a dual-illumination bed light; four bed tie-down hooks; molded-in recesses to receive standard 2x4's to enable customized (e.g., bi-level) storage; standard roof rails with cross bars; a tow rating of 1.089 kg, a rear seat center position rigid hinged storage compartment with integral twin cupholders, rear-seat power supply, rear-seat center storage net, map-pockets at rear of each front seat; an under-bed mounted spare tire, operable via a cable winch accessible from an access panel in the bed itself and a fold-up license plate holder with a mechanism allowing the plate to lock perpendicular to the tailgate, such that with the tailgate lowered, the plate remained visible – mimicking the tailgate and license plate arrangement on older station wagon / estates with biparting tailgates.
In 2004 Subaru introduced a new 2.5-liter turbocharged model producing 210 hp. This model featured standard manual or optional automatic transmission with Sportshift, a large hood scoop and color-matched exterior door handles and side mirrors. All models received increased ground clearance to 210 mm (8.4 in).
