Why subaru baja discontinued

Would you buy a Subaru truck? See why an Ascent-Baja would the sweet spot for Subaru. Go to my Bio link for the full details! A post shared by Subaru Report subaru. Will we ever see another Subaru pickup truck? Some hope so. Others think the Baja is exactly where it belongs——in the past. It will probably stay there. However, there have been rumors of a new Subaru pickup coming in the not so distant future.

Will it be another unibody truck? Some say it will be based on the ascent. It could be another Outback truck. Or will Subaru surprise us all with something else?

View this post on Instagram. Only 30, were built during the four-year production run despite Subaru planning to sell 24, per year. Even so, the Baja won numerous awards, including the Consumer Reports highest score for reliability in the pickup truck category, and has since earned a cult-like status on the used market. Despite being over 15 years old in some cases, the Baja has managed to hold its value relatively well - not unlike other Subaru models.

Not all Baja models were created equally and there are two very specific features you should be looking for - a manual transmission and a turbocharged engine. When the Baja was first introduced in , the only engine option was a 2. In , Subaru introduced a more powerful turbocharged motor, which bumped output up to hp. By , the turbocharged EJ motor produced hp, which is not too shabby for a roughly 3,pound vehicle. However, if you only need the bed to haul smaller items and are willing to sacrifice payload for performance, the Baja is an ideal motor.

Even with the automatic, the Baja will hit 60 mph in 7. Since this is a turbocharged Subaru, there are tuners out there who will be happy to extract more power from the EJ engine. In terms of cargo capacity, the Baja offers inches of bed space, which trails Chevy's failed sporty pickup, the SSR. Subaru knew the bed capacity was a bit small, so it cleverly designed an opening into the cabin for larger items.

With the rear seats folded down, the Baja allows for nearly 7. There was also an optional bed extender, allowing for even more space. The tradeoff for the small amount of bed space is improved fuel economy. Opting for the turbocharged manual model lowers these figures to 18 and 23 respectively. Some modern pickup trucks can match these figures, though trucks from the same period weren't nearly as efficient.

Clearly, the Subaru Baja isn't for everyone - if it was, it would have sold better when it was new. It didn't stop there either, packing several unique features like a "switchback" gate to extend the cargo bed through the interior. But, the ST-X's greatest virtue was its basis on the existing Outback, combining the off-road capabilities, comfortable interior, and pleasant on-road handling of the car with the utility of an open bed pickup truck.

The ST-X stood out as a striking concept and generated some excitement for the brand. With a promising concept, Subaru began work on a production version, the new truck became known as the Baja, and debuted for sale in August of Remarkably, the Baja looked almost identical to the concept, retaining most of its unique points and design features, a rare phenomena when bringing a concept to production.

But a cool concept is useless if the production version misses its mark in the real-world market, and it would become apparent just how misguided the Baja really was in the coming years. With its overall design and mechanical aspects being based on the Outback, the Baja was fine as a car, retaining all the good points of the Outback's driving characteristics and comfort.

But, the Baja's point of distinction was its truck half, and this would be the standard it was judged by - after all, you could still just buy an Outback if you didn't want the truck bed.

This was the first problem that led to the Baja's demise. The pickup truck market plays by different rules than the car market. Ford buyers will stick with Ford trucks, as these vehicles are treated as indispensable work tools, creating a stronger sense of brand loyalty than most cars do. With Subaru still being the underdog in the car market, and a new name in the pickup truck market , their work was cut out for them.

So, to attract buyers over from the existing truck market, the Baja should have had competitive truck capabilities, but it didn't. The problem was, the Baja was a unibody car based pickup, often called a "ute. For example, one major player in the compact truck segment - the Ford Ranger sold during the same years as the Baja, could tow 9, LBS and carry a payload of 1, LBS. Hauling wasn't the Baja's only deficiency either, as the pickup bed was a non-standard size, and extremely small, coming in at just The "switchback" gate didn't help much either, only allowing slim items like wooden beams, or surfboards, to make use of the extended space.