- Other Subaru Bajas have come across the pages of the Bring a Trailer auction site in the last year, but none of them as low-mileage as this one. With less than 8000 miles on the odometer, this particular Baja is basically brand-new.
- Except it’s not new, and that’s what’s getting people excited, a nostalgia for a time when Subaru’s part-truck, part-sedan hit the scene.
- The auction is currently at $17,250, well under the car’s original selling price of $23,120. The big question is where things end up over the next five days until the auction ends on Sunday, February 13.
Sometimes, you can just feel automotive enthusiasts gushing over a particular vehicle that’s listed on the auction site Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos—and this 2006 Subaru Baja Sport checks a lot of boxes. Quirky model from 15-plus years ago? Yep. Low mileage but in excellent condition? Check. Original documentation and CD stereo? Sign us up.
In our review of the 2002 Baja when it was new, we noted that there are certainly some compromises with a bed this short in a sedan, but the decades have made us look at these cars with nostalgia and then some. Smaller pick-ups like the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick have recently entered the market to kind of fit in the same space as the Baja, but there’s really nothing quite like these Subarus. With a raised suspension, fog lights, and sunroof, this is a Baja that might be the closest thing that can take you back to 2006 in an instant. Just take a look at those tinted rear windows. The example for sale is painted in Atlantic Blue Pearl exterior color with lower-body cladding and a black and gray upholstered interior with front bucket seats. Five-spoke, 16-inch alloy wheels wear 225/60 Bridgestone Potenza tires.
The 2.5-liter SOHC engine offered 165 horsepower and 166 pound-feet of torque when it was new, and with only 8000 miles on the odometer, there shouldn’t be too much to worry about as long as you know a mechanic who’s familiar with head gaskets. The five-speed manual transmission and all-wheel-drive capability should still offer some of the fun to whoever gets to sit behind the wheel when all is said and done.
Which brings us to the point that the two previous owners of this vehicle seemed not to have been very interested in sitting behind the wheel. BaT’s documents say that this Baja was originally delivered to Anchor Subaru of North Smithfield, Rhode Island, and has mostly remained in Connecticut. It was bought by a dealer in 2021 that prepped it for online auction.
BaT sold four Bajas last year, with the final prices ranging from $14,250 to $25,550. All of them had either around 50,000 or more than 100,000 miles on their odometers. This low-mileage 2006 Baja that’s currently for sale is sitting at just over $17,000 right now, but the expectation is that this vehicle’s price will climb to at least $20,000 by the time the auction ends on Sunday, February 13. The car’s original selling price was $23,120, and we feel obliged to acknowledge that there’s a reasonable chance the auction price will climb up another 10 grand or so on top of that. It’s so difficult to judge used-car prices these days, which is what makes auctions like this so fun to watch.
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Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
