According to its ad, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Baja was built for “solo sightseeing trips.” Let’s see if we can see paying the asking price for this backcountry beast.
The 1975 Cadillac Eldorado convertible we looked at yesterday is about the biggest boat you could captain without having to shout “ahoy!” when addressing passersby. Unfortunately, the car’s $29,995 asking price proved equally overwhelming and came in with a 70 percent No Dice loss.
In “The Simpsons Movie,” Ned Flanders coaxes Bart out of a tree with a cup of hot cocoa, which he progressively tops with added goodness in the form of whipped cream, a cookie, shaved chocolate and a roasted marshmallow. As you might imagine, the enticement worked.
There’s a similar building on strengths evident in today’s 2005 Subaru Baja overlander. The base car is well-kitted, anchored by the optional, turbocharged 2.5-liter pancake four. That imbues the Subie with a healthy 210 horsepower and 235 lb-ft of torque. Behind that is a five-speed manual and Subaru’s solid all-the-time AWD. Of course, this being a Baja means it has a versatile open bed in the back and a small under-glass pass-through for longer cargo.
On top of all that, this Baja has received a two-inch increase in ride height, Powerstop front brakes, a set of Reika alloy wheels (the originals will also come with the car), a whole bunch of added lights, and an Exodus Overland roof rack. That last add-on is shown with a Roam roof tent in the ad, but that is not included in the sale.
Given all that, this Baja truly looks the part of an off-road adventurer. It’s been painted in matte olive green with black accents, so it should also easily blend in when going out. Other exterior updates include a hard tonneau over the bed with a storage matrix below that features additional lockable space for tools and whatnot. It seems solid, too. The seller says that while once plagued with road rot, the car’s rust has all been cut out and properly repaired. Overall, the work is not noticeable, and all the plastic bits appear to been returned intact.
The cabin is a little funky. There is some obvious wear in the fabric on the driver’s seat squab, but it’s the unique paint treatment given to the hard plastics on the dash and door trim that first catches the eye. That’s been treated to a muted black-and-white variegated stone effect and appears well done, if somewhat surprising. A phone mount, dash-top vehicle diagnostics display, and DC-DC battery charger round out the interior changes.
