 2003 Subaru Baja
 GOOD STUFFFunky good looks Easy cruiser on interstates Many thoughtful touches All-wheel drive Comfort rules - even offroad  BAD STUFFClunky manual transmission Not a serious offroader
 First, the bottom line
James Dean had the pet name of his Porsche Spyder scripted on the body: Little Bastard. This should be the Subaru Bastard. It's not a car. It's not a truck. It's not a sport utility. It's not a minivan. It's the bastard offspring of an old, rusting Subaru Brat that met a new Subaru Legacy Outback one night and exchanged some oil. From the father, this 2003 Baja got a pickup bed. From its mother (she was forced into this), the Baja got a car-like interior, a nose job and comfort features galore. Once again offering a Brat-like vehicle is not a bad idea. Ford has done it with the excellent Explorer Sport Trac. Nissan has done it with a Frontier model. And its legacy is a cult following for Ford Rancheros and Chevy El Caminos. In fact, the only remarkable thing is that manufacturers took so long to realize a part-car/part-truck vehicle might find favor in the marketplace. Why not? The best selling vehicles in America are (1) Ford F-150, (2) Chevrolet Silverado, and (3) Ford Explorer. Mix 'em up and a Baja thingy is what you get.
The 2003 Subaru Baja also offers the most comfort and best handling of its offbeat ilk. That's because the Baja is really just a Legacy Outback post-liposuction on its rear. The Brat, a two-door, was offered from 1977 through 1987. In today's marketplace, should the four-door Baja last that long, it would be a roaring success. The question is: How many people want to drive a bastard?  Safety
Various agencies of the federal government have various ways of categorizing a vehicle like the Baja. To some, it's a truck. To others, it a car. As far as safety features are concerned, it tilts more toward truck than car. In addition to the required dual front air bags, it has anti-lock brakes. And the list ends there. No side air bags or head bags. Just the expected. For buyers attracted to the Baja, this will mostly likely be fine. The Baja is too new to have been crash tested, but since it rides on a Legacy Outback chassis, those crash test results are almost surely applicable. And the Outback garnered "good" ratings overall. In many respects, it was simply superb in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests. For instance: Many vehicles being tested today do well in all respects but footwell intrusion. When the wheel and/or axle moves backward, it can crumple the firewall area and intrude into the area where a driver's feet are located. Result? Ankles snap.
Here's what the IIHS said: "A strong safety cage helped keep the tire out of the driver footwell area, maintaining the integrity of the occupant compartment. Crumpled structure in front of the occupant compartment indicates where the crash energy was absorbed." Another problem not being solved well by many manufacturers is the rebound that occurs after a driver smacks the air bag. Far too often, the driver is thrown backward into the B pillar, which is akin to being clubbed in the back of the head. Not in the Outback. Again, the IIHS reported: "Good control of dummy movement allowed the dummy to rebound into the seat without its head coming close to any stiff structure that could cause injury." It just doesn't get much better than this.  Performance/Handling
The Baja's Achilles Heel is not its fine engine -- a four-cylinder boxer producing 165 horsepower. The engine is adequate. No more. The problem is the five-speed manual transmission our tester came with. That's the standard transmission, by the way. Previous Outbacks tested here have had the smooth automatic, a fine unit, but it adds $800 to the cost of the Baja. Get it anyhow.
The clunkiness certainly made its way into the Baja and could be felt by anyone aboard. The Baja bucked when asked to move out and jumped when asked to slow down. It was extremely difficult or impossible to drive smoothly in any gear at town speeds (45 mph). No performance tests were done on the Baja, so no numbers are available. By using the gears, acceleration is acceptable. Handling is better than most vehicles of this type, far superior to most trucks, and equal to many cars. The Baja centered beautifully at highway speed and comes standard with cruise control. The seats, as I've found true for most Subarus, were comfortable over the long haul. No backache. Braking was strong and sure. Pedal modulation was easy to control. Real-world fuel efficiency, some city but mostly interstate, was 23 miles per gallon.  Comfort
For a truck, er, crossover vehicle, the Baja is really comfortable and surprisingly luxurious. Course, the one thing it is not is cheap. That $24,000 base price will cool a lot of Gen Y fervor.
A moonroof is standard, as well, tucked under roof rails. Other standard items: air conditioning, CD player, keyless entry, power windows and door locks, 6-way power driver's seat, tilt steering wheel, and cruise control. The two bar lights atop the Baja are more show than anything. They can't hold a candlepower to those on the Jeep Liberty Renegade. These seemed dramatically underpowered, unable to do much besides illuminate a garage door from 10 feet. Certainly, they can't match the Renegade on a dark stretch of back road. Outside, the Baja designers reached for Pontiac influence, and slapped on as much plastic as they could in the form of silver bodyside cladding. Yuck. And the fuel filler lid is likewise silver-colored, making it stand out like a pimple on the Prom Queen's nose. But ... it's a head-turner. The lookatme yellow had a touch of gold to it -- and some onlookers did not like this yellow. Banana yellow, ala the New Beetle, is preferred. The wheels were very modern looking. Descending down toward the pickup bed are two rollbar extensions, brightly chrome-plated so they can create glare-reflection problems for other drivers. Visibility from the driver's seat is excellent. The front of the Baja is always in view, much appreciated with any vehicle but especially with a sport ute or truck. Parking is much easier, as are all maneuvers.
Begin with the way to lower the liftgate. Since the Baja's license tag frame is attached to the liftgate, lowering the gate would obscure visibility of the tag -- an illegality. So, with the Baja, you first depress two buttons, one on each side the tag holder, and then lift the tag holder up at a 90-degree angle. Next, pull the lever to lower the tailgate. It drops down and, presto, the tag now is straight up and down for legal display. The cargo bar, pioneered by Ford and copied by Nissan, is a $250 option that extends the usefulness of the mini-cargo bay. It flips forward or backward to the end of the tailgate, still not providing as much carrying capacity as a full-size pickup. But Subaru also stole a page from Chevrolet -- thank you Avalanche -- and created a way to extend long items from the pickup bed to the interior of the vehicle. Pull a lever to lower the rear seats (they will NOT lay flat) and then pull another lever to open a door between cargo bay and interior. Now you carry 2X4s in a Baja (but you won't carry those standard size sheets of plywood, Bubba). This is tough to explain, but easy to show. Take a look by clicking here and moving your cursor inside the image. This is as good a place as any to look around the entire interior. Click here for a 360-degree view. In the interior, you'll note brushed aluminum trim adding nice touches. The power window switches are on the driver's door armrest, where they'll quickly become soaked with water if the window is cracked open. The steering wheel is of the four-spoke variety, so a hand can be rested at the bottom during long cruises. The stereo system that came with the tester was more than adequate, but serious upgrades are available at extra cost.  Parting Shots
The 2003 Subaru Baja is a fine addition for a company riding high at the moment. Consumer Reports doesn't spell it out, but examine the reliability reports in that magazine's archive and see if you can come with any line of cars with better reliability. The Subarus are top-notch across the board. And the Legacy Outback, in any guise, is a personal favorite.
In the past, Subarus have been noted as bulletproof vehicles that can handle any weather, any condition, and keep going right up to the point where the body falls off in a cloud of rust dust. They were tough. They were dependable. They were the choice of rural letter carriers everywhere. They got the job done. What they weren't was exciting. Not that Subaru hasn't tried. Of recent vintage, the SVX remains one of the best coupes I've ever tested, but it lasted only a short while in the marketplace. It was smooth, luxurious, and extremely powerful. It was also pricey. Subaru tried again with a hot Impreza, but that didn't cut it either, and was difficult to drive smoothly But the WRX changed things. That manual transmission still had its problems, but this car was a winner. It had won road rally championships and started to win over young buyers from the moment it was introduced. Here was the greatest sleeper since the Dodge Spirit R/T. It looked so .. docile. Ha. Camaros would leave engine parts from Atlanta to Miami trying to keep with the rev-happy WRX. It was an exciting Subaru! This coming year, the Super WRX is coming. Oooo, my, stand by. You think the current high-revving puppy is bad, wait until you punch this new one. So here's this reliable carmaker offering up a super sedan and a funky, Gen Y crossover vehicle. Whatcha think? Cool, or what? Go for it, Subaru. You're on a roll. 'nuff said.
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Specifications
Subaru hopes to emerge on top of this category thanks to two Subaru-only features: all-wheel drive all the time, and a horizontally-opposed boxer engine that gives the Baja superior handling characteristics. (It's one of the best engines ever put in a vehicle.)
Look at this photo taken from beneath an Outback after a 40 mph crash into an offset barrier.
This five-speed "clunked" the Baja with each press of the accelerator. Press, clunk. Lift, clunk. And you could see the gear shift lever lurch sideways each time acceleration or deceleration was needed.
Open a door and you're greeted with leather seating surfaces as standard equipment. Instrumentation is good and all needed controls are at hand. It's a familiar interior and a driver doesn't have to pull out the owner's manual to locate the windshield wiper or headlight switch.
But let's move to the pickup bed and look around. There are some neat touches back here.
But the Baja really, really stands out for a company like Subaru.
Home, James