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Subaru Baja
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Subaru Baja
The Subaru Baja is an all-wheel-drive, four passenger coupé utility manufactured from 2002 to 2006 by Subaru and marketed for model years 2003 to 2006. The Baja combines the handling and passenger carrying characteristics of a traditional passenger car with the open-bed versatility and load capacity of a small pickup truck.
The unibody design borrowed heavily from the existing mechanicals, platform and sheet metal of the Subaru Legacy/Outback wagon. Production began on July 18, 2002 as a 2003 model at the Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. factory in Lafayette, Indiana.
The name Baja derives from the Mexican peninsula of Baja California; home to the Baja 1000 off-road race.
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 Los Angeles 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-seater passenger compartment along with a 1,050 mm (41.5 in) open bed and drop-down tailgate. A system marketed as the Switchback allowed the rear passenger seat to fold down and a small hatch from the open bed to fold inward, allowing an extended length of around 2.3 m (7.5 ft) to the end of the open tailgate. A light in the instrument cluster signaled an "open" status for the Switchback. An optional bed extender was also offered to extend the bed's load length to the end of the open tailgate. The Baja's overall design featured two stainless steel exposed buttresses behind the passenger compartment, marketed as Sports Bars, providing structural reinforcement for the bodywork.
Features 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 1,100 kg (2,400 lb), 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, and a fold-down license plate holder allowing the plate to be visible with the tailgate down.
Subaru marketed the Baja in the United States, Canada and Chile. In the United States and Canada, Subaru marketed the Baja as a "multiple-choice vehicle." Limited advertising, late arrival of the turbo-charged model, heavily styled lower-body plastic cladding and a yellow-and-silver introductory color scheme discouraged broad appeal. At the time of the Baja's introduction, USA Today called it a "controversial fashion statement with limited utility".
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Subaru Baja
The Subaru Baja is an all-wheel-drive, four passenger coupé utility manufactured from 2002 to 2006 by Subaru and marketed for model years 2003 to 2006. The Baja combines the handling and passenger carrying characteristics of a traditional passenger car with the open-bed versatility and load capacity of a small pickup truck.
The unibody design borrowed heavily from the existing mechanicals, platform and sheet metal of the Subaru Legacy/Outback wagon. Production began on July 18, 2002 as a 2003 model at the Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. factory in Lafayette, Indiana.
The name Baja derives from the Mexican peninsula of Baja California; home to the Baja 1000 off-road race.
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 Los Angeles 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-seater passenger compartment along with a 1,050 mm (41.5 in) open bed and drop-down tailgate. A system marketed as the Switchback allowed the rear passenger seat to fold down and a small hatch from the open bed to fold inward, allowing an extended length of around 2.3 m (7.5 ft) to the end of the open tailgate. A light in the instrument cluster signaled an "open" status for the Switchback. An optional bed extender was also offered to extend the bed's load length to the end of the open tailgate. The Baja's overall design featured two stainless steel exposed buttresses behind the passenger compartment, marketed as Sports Bars, providing structural reinforcement for the bodywork.
Features 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 1,100 kg (2,400 lb), 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, and a fold-down license plate holder allowing the plate to be visible with the tailgate down.
Subaru marketed the Baja in the United States, Canada and Chile. In the United States and Canada, Subaru marketed the Baja as a "multiple-choice vehicle." Limited advertising, late arrival of the turbo-charged model, heavily styled lower-body plastic cladding and a yellow-and-silver introductory color scheme discouraged broad appeal. At the time of the Baja's introduction, USA Today called it a "controversial fashion statement with limited utility".
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