Well I must say I had my doubts. I bought my scoobytruck in florida. Very nice, but I bought the car to handle mountain terrain in western NC. There aint no mountains in Florida.
It's not quick on acceleration , non turbo, so how's it going to do under load.
Well, I can now report I am very impressed. We drove the car 80 MPH on I-75 to the mountains (got 25MPG) and when there I went up many extreemely steep gravel slopes. In low (its an auto trans) that little scoob crawled right up the steepest like a fly crawling up a wall. Not fast, but it chugged with no hesitation...no wheelspin like my big 4WD tundra does when on 4wd with hairpin switchbacks.
I am very impressed with my baja so far... and I have learned that accelleration has nothing to do with climbing abilities.
I was thinking if it is anemic on 0-60 hows it going to go up a steep hill?
The answer is very nicely.
climbing steep slopes.
Moderator: mikenmel08
Re: climbing steep slopes.
Agreed - there are days when I wish I went with the Turbo instead of the Sport, but then I get 28 MPG on average so I can deal with it.
Re: climbing steep slopes.
I'm glad you're happy with it! Every Subaru I've ever been around would climb very well; even the 2WD ones. My only wish/complaint about off-roading the Baja is the terrible approach & departure angles. I've nearly ripped the electrics off my hitch I-don't-know-how-many times, and I nearly got stuck/high-centered once because the rear end dragged departing the road. But the actual climbing itself, once you get set up on the hill, is outstanding. I particularly love the turbos' A/Ts for that because of the planetary center diff and rear LSD. Happy 'wheeling!