Future Baja value

General talk about the Subaru Baja.

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catzodellamarina
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Future Baja value

Post by catzodellamarina »

New to the forum. Glad I found it.

I cannot believe I have owned my 03' Baja for 8 years and it has over 200K miles. My dad bought it new and I bought it from him. I have recently decided to park it until I have time to make it a project. It runs fine but needs some rust repair, new exhaust, hood painted, windshield, and upgrades.

I have noticed that Bajas hold their value very well. Any ideas on how much they will be worth in 5, 10, 20 years? For once I would like to be holding on to something that is worth more than it originally sold for. I sold my nice driver 69' Camaro about 20 years ago for $6K. Today it is worth 3X that. I hope I can say the same for my Baja.
harleyjohn45
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by harleyjohn45 »

catzodellamarina wrote: Thu Dec 26, 2019 2:17 pm New to the forum. Glad I found it.

I cannot believe I have owned my 03' Baja for 8 years and it has over 200K miles. My dad bought it new and I bought it from him. I have recently decided to park it until I have time to make it a project. It runs fine but needs some rust repair, new exhaust, hood painted, windshield, and upgrades.

I have noticed that Bajas hold their value very well. Any ideas on how much they will be worth in 5, 10, 20 years? For once I would like to be holding on to something that is worth more than it originally sold for. I sold my nice driver 69' Camaro about 20 years ago for $6K. Today it is worth 3X that. I hope I can say the same for my Baja.
I think they will go up, however parts are getting hard to fine and they are expensive. I'm working on one that I thought was extremely nice, but its turning into a night mare. There must be a hundred sensors on my car and people who can actually work on them will become scarce. Friday I went to a wrecking yard in Albuquerque and saw at least 10 Outbacks. Any car there over 90 days was picked clean, the 30 day cars still had a few parts left, there were no Bajas. I did find a donut for a spare for 8.50.
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kamesama980
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by kamesama980 »

Knowing the future value of any car is a crapshoot. To some extent it depends on who you're asking. For the most part, the value's bottomed out. I'd expect them not to go down much more BUT it'll also depend on condition, location, etc. 200k miles with noteworthy rust will probably not appreciate much.

The Baja does not have even 100 sensors and is not particularly hard to work on. Losing people that know how to troubleshoot happens after a paradigm shift (carbs and points to EFI) NOT evolutionary shifts (electronics to more electronics). To someone trained on newer cars, a baja is just the same thing with fewer variables.
-Russell
"You don't get to judge me for how I fix what you break"
03 sport 5mt
05 turbo 5mt vf39 and other STI bits, 3" turbo-back
ZUBAJA
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by ZUBAJA »

catzodellamarina wrote: Thu Dec 26, 2019 2:17 pm Any ideas on how much they will be worth in 5, 10, 20 years?
Absolute crapshoot. With all the greenhouse / climate change / rising oceans, and "dogs and cats living together" stuff, who knows what ANY collectible will be worth in 5 to 20 years. Some kind of greenhouse tax or restriction could put the kibosh to almost any kind of drivable / collectible vehicle value.
For the last 21 years I have been involved in Isuzus. The early Troopers (1986-1991) are just now beginning to command a "collectible" type price with very good examples going for the 7,000.00 price range AND SELLING. A few years ago, you were lucky to pull 3 grand out of one. And these were the more popular (plentiful) model (compare a Baja to an Outback). The SWB "RS" models, with production and import numbers comparable to a Baja, have commanded a higher price for some time. Of course you must remember for appreciation / investment value, you can't drive it every day. Dennis
harleyjohn45
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by harleyjohn45 »

kamesama980 wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 9:44 am Knowing the future value of any car is a crapshoot. To some extent it depends on who you're asking. For the most part, the value's bottomed out. I'd expect them not to go down much more BUT it'll also depend on condition, location, etc. 200k miles with noteworthy rust will probably not appreciate much.

The Baja does not have even 100 sensors and is not particularly hard to work on. Losing people that know how to troubleshoot happens after a paradigm shift (carbs and points to EFI) NOT evolutionary shifts (electronics to more electronics). To someone trained on newer cars, a baja is just the same thing with fewer variables.
Do you know how many sensors is actually on a Baja Turbo?? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
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kamesama980
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by kamesama980 »

harleyjohn45 wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:09 pm
kamesama980 wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 9:44 am Knowing the future value of any car is a crapshoot. To some extent it depends on who you're asking. For the most part, the value's bottomed out. I'd expect them not to go down much more BUT it'll also depend on condition, location, etc. 200k miles with noteworthy rust will probably not appreciate much.

The Baja does not have even 100 sensors and is not particularly hard to work on. Losing people that know how to troubleshoot happens after a paradigm shift (carbs and points to EFI) NOT evolutionary shifts (electronics to more electronics). To someone trained on newer cars, a baja is just the same thing with fewer variables.
Do you know how many sensors is actually on a Baja Turbo?? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Depends... Just the ECM or bumper to bumper?

Between memory and glancing quickly over some electrical schematics I get 25 engine sensors and 18 actuators though I'm sure I'm missing a few. I counted 34 non-engine related sensors without getting too into in or breaking down the HVAC or radio. The non-turbo is pretty close on count, depending on the year it loses some but gains others.

Engine inputs:
Manifold Absolute Pressure
Mass Air Flow
Intake Air Temp
Cam Position 1
Cam Position 2
Crank Position
knock
o2s1
o2s2
blowby
TGV1
TVG2
Throttle Position
Accelerator pedal Position
Engine coolant temp
AC on
PS pressure
tur_in temp
cruise control res/accel
cruise control set/decel
cruise control cancel
cruise control on-off
alternator load (Passive)
clutch start switch
Evap fuel system pressure
I may have missed a few but not 70

You only really need 2-3 sensors to make an engine run: you need to know airflow (to figure fuel) and something to trigger ignition. You could get by with a MAF and crank sensor if you really wanted. or a TPS and crank sensor depending on how you want to do airflow. The rest just makes more power, more reliable, less emissions, or more convenient.

The advances in newer cars aren't so much around the number of sensors but in precision and how the ECM deals with the inputs. older stuff is a formulas, lookup tables, and offsets. Newer stuff has multiple multi-dimensional (4 and 5D+) tables and multiple modes of operation.
-Russell
"You don't get to judge me for how I fix what you break"
03 sport 5mt
05 turbo 5mt vf39 and other STI bits, 3" turbo-back
harleyjohn45
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by harleyjohn45 »

Thank you Russell. I've printed out your list.
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kamesama980
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by kamesama980 »

harleyjohn45 wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2020 2:07 pm Thank you Russell. I've printed out your list.
I'm curious as to why?
-Russell
"You don't get to judge me for how I fix what you break"
03 sport 5mt
05 turbo 5mt vf39 and other STI bits, 3" turbo-back
harleyjohn45
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by harleyjohn45 »

kamesama980 wrote: Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:54 am
harleyjohn45 wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2020 2:07 pm Thank you Russell. I've printed out your list.
I'm curious as to why?
[/quote

Probably the best and only list out there.
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kamesama980
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by kamesama980 »

harleyjohn45 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 3:33 pm
kamesama980 wrote: Mon Jan 13, 2020 10:54 am
harleyjohn45 wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2020 2:07 pm Thank you Russell. I've printed out your list.
I'm curious as to why?
[/quote

Probably the best and only list out there.
but why do you need a list printed? it's not terribly useful without the troubleshooting flowcharts associated with them.
-Russell
"You don't get to judge me for how I fix what you break"
03 sport 5mt
05 turbo 5mt vf39 and other STI bits, 3" turbo-back
mike-tracy
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Re: Future Baja value

Post by mike-tracy »

Thanks
1992 Legacy SS, 5mt and heavily modified
2000 Impreza RSTi Coupe
2003 Baja, H6 and Dual Range 5mt swap
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