My Trusty Baja

You need more than a good bike to be a serious rider. There is a lot of supporting equipment needed like spare tubes, tires, and an assortment of tools. You also need special clothing and shoes for each season and many other incidental. If you have to drive to where you are going to ride it also helps to have a good way to transport your bike.

When it comes time to buy a new car I always take into account how well it will work for carrying bikes since transporting bikes and people is part of almost every weekend for me. In October 2002 I bought a Subaru Baja as it seemed like a good car for everyday use as well as a great car for hauling me and the bike around.

Ten years later and I'm still very happy with the car. It's a fun comfortable car to drive and gets good mileage (25 MPG). Having an pickup bed in the back has been very useful for hauling, plants, dirt, wood and other dirty things that won't fit or are too dirty for the back of a normal car. The bed also easily fits 3 bikes with a custom rack I made.

This car has been able to do everything I have needed it to do. It is a little smaller than my last car a Ford Ranger pickup but it has been able to do everything my small pickup did and has a better ride and gas mileage. Its also has been very reliable car and at 80,000 miles it seems to have a lot of life left in it.

When the Baja first came out Car and Driver didn't think it was a car that Subaru needed to build. They didn't understand why some one would by a Baja when they could get almost the same utility from an Outback wagon. They were right of course and three years after the Baja came out Subaru discontinued it for lack of sales. For me however I'm glad they did build the car because it has been the perfect car to get me, my bikes, and my friends to our many bike adventures.