Finally! I am an excited owner of an '05 Turbo...

[BBoley24]

After dealing with a local Pittsburgh dealer that ended in a lot of wasted time and no Baja; My wife and I drove 320 miles to New Jersey and bought our 2005 Subaru Baja Turbo with 93k on it. One of the most shady dealers ive ever worked with but the car has been running like a dream.

I am going to take it up to the dealer to have it inspected once I get it registered in my state. Here are some pictures!

[Rizzo]

I don't see any pictures ?

I hope it all works out for you BTW.

[Zombaja]

that's just like mine. a turbo 05 in white.



Ive had mine 3 months now and still get comments about this being the "new Brat". Amazing how many people did not even know this vehicle existed.

Maybe if marketing had been better, they'd still be making them?

[BBoley24]

I don't know where to start...

My main issue is finding factory performance parts. What is the upgrade of control arms that most people use? Linkages? Shocks and struts? Rotors and Pads?

Id like to replace and upgrade at the same time. I want to gut the entire suspension with new parts but have no clue what car matches which!~

Same thing with exhaust. Where do I start???

[avnav526]

After dealing with a local Pittsburgh dealer that ended in a lot of wasted time and no Baja; My wife and I drove 320 miles to New Jersey and bought our 2005 Subaru Baja Turbo with 93k on it. One of the most shady dealers ive ever worked with but the car has been running like a dream.

I am going to take it up to the dealer to have it inspected once I get it registered in my state. Here are some pictures!

That's beautiful!! I've never yet seen a white Baja in person. You may already know, but in case you don't the Turbos require special care. I bought my 2005 Baja Turbo in November 2013. Four months later it didn't seem to have as much get-up-and-go, and about that same time it made this odd "zzzzzzzt!" noise as I got off the freeway one day. Couple days later it made the same noise so I took it to my mechanic. Turned out this itty-bitty oil filter in a banjo bolt on the turbo had plugged and starved the turbo of oil. The noise was the turbine wobbling and rubbing inside the housing. The scariest thing was that it appeared the turbine had locked up at one point and when it did, it broke the center shaft nut loose. The nut was free spinning on the shaft and only had three threads holding it on. My mechanic said that had the nut come off it would have gone down the engine and I'd be buying a new engine. I elected to get a new turbo instead of a remanufactured one, and the part plus removal and replacement cost over $2,000. A remanufactured turbo wouldn't have saved much and my mechanic said he'd seen several fail in less than a year so he didn't recommend them.
I did a lot of reading on the web and found a great forum by a mechanic from a Subaru Dealer in Washington State who had lots of info on turbo problems. He and my mechanic both recommended synthetic oil with changes every 3,750 miles, plus let the car idle for 30 seconds before shutting it off to let the turbo cool. He, my mechanic and a lot of others I've read and talked to personally said shutting the engine off right after driving fast or hard leaves all the heat in the turbo which essentially burns the oil inside the banjo bolt filter (a process called "coking" I believe), which plugs the filter. My original banjo bolt filter was plugged with black stuff which is the result of coking I was told.
Anyway, I am following that advice to the point that I got a cheap kitchen timer to time the 30 seconds. I sure don't want to buy another turbo!

[Killer B]

Very beautiful! I have also never seen a white Baja in person. That color combo must be quite rare!

[BBoley24]

It's crazy because I did a 3000 mile road trip with my wife these last two weeks. I saw 5 bajas and only 1 turbo baja that was the exact same color as mine. It really is a rare car.

I am well aware of the banjo bolt. It scares the hell out of me.

I am currently working on the up pipe... down pipe... cat and back... trying to find the right, cheap solutions without skimping. Need advice on a high flow cat though! The downpipe didn't come with one on it... need one welded in.

[avnav526]

Like I said, I've been told and the Subaru guy in his forum swear that if you are religious in changing your oil every 3750 miles or less, use a good quality synthetic, and always let the engine idle at least 30 seconds before you shut it off (which isn't too difficult to get into the habit though it is a bit inconvenient), you'll likely never have issues with your turbo.
Believe me, after spending over 2 grand to repair mine plus narrowly dodging the bullet for a whole engine change, I am following that advice!
Scott W.

[BBoley24]

Great advice for sure.

I am sticking with Rotella Full Synthetic.