Driving Tips - Subaru 2004 Baja Owner's Manual

pery surface can lead to wheel locking; as a
consequence, control of the vehicle may be lost
and the risk of an accident increased.
The following table shows the maximum speeds that
are possible with each different gear.
Never exceed the speed limit below for each gear po-
sition except for brief acceleration in an emergency.
The tachometer's needle (if so equipped) will enter the
red area if these speeds are exceeded. Failure to ob-
serve this precaution can lead to excessive engine
wear and poor fuel economy.
Gear BAJA and BAJA-Sport
1st 31 (50)
2nd 52 (84)
3rd 74 (119)
Never exceed posted speed limits.

! Driving tips

Do not drive with your foot resting on the clutch pedal
and do not use the clutch to hold your vehicle at a
standstill on an upgrade. Either of those actions may
cause clutch damage.
Do not drive with your hand resting on the shift lever.
This may cause wear on the transmission compo-
nents.
When it is necessary to reduce vehicle speed due to
slow traffic, turning corners, or driving up steep hills,
downshift to a lower gear before the engine starts to
labor.
On steep downgrades, downshift the transmission to
4th, 3rd or 2nd gear as necessary; this helps to main-
tain a safe speed and to extend brake pad life.
mph (km/h)
In this way, the engine provides a braking effect. Re-
BAJA-Turbo
member, if you "ride" (over use) the brakes while de-
scending a hill, they may overheat and not work prop-
29 (47)
erly.
48 (78)
The engine may, on rare occasions, knock when the
vehicle rapidly accelerates or rapidly pulls away from
71 (114)
a standstill. This phenomenon does not indicate a
fault.
Starting and operating
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