Unibody pickups are coming back into fashion. Hyundai is working on such a vehicle, and so do Ford and Volkswagen. Honda, however, offers such a workhorse in the guise of the good ol’ Ridgeline with V6 oomph.
Not that long ago, Subaru also offered an extremely appealing unibody truck in the United States. Its name is Baja, and it was manufactured in Indiana from 2002 to 2006 for the 2003 through 2006 model years. Being so closely related to the Legacy and Outback, the all-wheel-drive pickup also features quite a bit of ground clearance and above-average overlanding capabilities.
Preceded by the now-classic BRAT (Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter), the Baja was offered with three versions of the EJ25 four-cylinder boxer engines. The most interesting of the lot is the EJ255 thanks to forced induction, a similar powerplant to the previous-gen WRX.
Regular Car Reviews had the opportunity to revisit the Baja in a laugh-out-loud video of the damn thing. This ain’t a garage queen kept under lock and key by a speculator, but a daily driver with tons of intriguing mods.
The most obvious difference is the OEM-sourced jumper seats in the bed, taken straight out of a BRAT. Steve, the owner of the black-painted Baja, didn’t even bolt down those bed seats because they’re there only for show.
Under the hood, Steve’s ute hides a naturally aspirated EJ25 connected to a four-speed automatic. Remember when Subaru had torque-converter trannies instead of the Lineartronic CVT? Pepperidge Farm remembers, alright!
As much as we love this thing, the Baja didn’t excel at being a utility vehicle. The bed is covered in plastic that’s easy to scratch and damage beyond repair, the rear window doesn’t slide down, you need to be careful with the license plate when lowering the tailgate, and the list goes on and on and so forth.
On the upside, the Baja’s resale value is obscene even for high-mileage examples like this fellow here. At the time of shooting the video, Steve’s car showed 196,293 miles on the odometer with the original engine. On that note, who said boxers weren’t reliable?
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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