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Subaru Crosstrek Baja Racer is a glorious blue and gold liveried masterpiece

Subaru just revealed its new Baja racer, and it's the coolest one yet. The Crosstrek Desert Racer is now sporting Subaru's traditional blue and gold livery that we all know and love from the many years it was plastered on Impreza-based rally cars. It's hard not to be nostalgic on this one, and we just had to share it. This Crosstrek, which bears about zero resemblance to an actual Crosstrek, is being run in the grueling Baja 500 off-road race through the Baja California Peninsula. Crawford Performance and Grabowski Brothers Racing are running the show, hoping to improve on their second-place finish from last year. The vehicle has a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated flat-four engine built to produce 300 horsepower. It's great to see Subaru continue to expand the blue and gold livery theme to more motorsports efforts. At the 2019 Detroit Auto Show we got to see the same livery on an STI rally car destined for competition. Now this beast of a Baja racer looks ready to strike fear into the hearts of its opponents just the same. The vehicle itself is rather insect-like in nature with the suspension and lights sticking out everywhere. There's still no word on whether the team will try for the big Baja 1000, or just stick to the 500 for 2019. Regardless, it looks supremely capable, and must be an absolute hoot to drive.

Subaru BRZ has higher manual take-rate than 86, and other Subaru manual facts

Automakers are continuing to give us a peek at the popularity, or lack thereof, of the manual transmission. Our latest information comes from Subaru, which kindly shared its manual transmission take-rate numbers for 2018. One of the most interesting tidbits was that 78% of Subaru BRZs sold had a manual. What makes that so curious is its stark contrast to its twin, the Toyota 86, where only 33% of those sold in 2018 had a manual. On top of that, the BRZ has a stronger manual take-rate than the enthusiast darling Mazda Miata; the soft top had 76% of buyers going for a stick, and the RF had 52%. If we had to speculate, it seems the Subaru BRZ is attracting the hardcore sports car fans. Although the BRZ manual sales are strong, it isn't the model that sells the most. The Subaru WRX tops it with 90% of buyers picking the manual over the CVT option. We of course suspect that plenty of regular WRX buyers are opting for the manual, though the number is likely partly boosted by the fact the STI version is only available with a manual. Things aren't quite as rosy with Subaru's more mainstream offerings, but that's to be expected. The Impreza follows the BRZ with 8% of Imprezas selling with a manual. The Crosstrek comes in second-to-last at 6%, and the Forester comes in last at 3%. And the Forester has now dropped the manual transmission. One final interesting note to Subaru's manual take rate. Subaru told us it sold over 47,000 manual-equipped cars. That's roughly 2,000 more than Honda sold in the same year. And with Subaru's total sales numbers being less than Honda, that means the percentage of total sales that were manual is larger at 7% versus 2.6% for Honda.

Subaru teasing STI surprise for NYC show?

Subaru is no stranger to the Special Edition car, least of all where its vaunted WRX and STI are concerned. From Spec C to Prodrive to 22B, more than a handful of STI's around the world have been released as limited-run editions, often with stirring results. So, while we were more than a little bit surprised to see that big-wing crop up on the Subaru Twitter page today, we can't say as though its not true to the brand's history.
However, while most of the interesting WRX STI variants have been offered to Europe and Japan only, whatever is wearing that carbon-fiber-lipped wing is set to debut at the New York Auto Show this week.
We don't have a clue as to the precise nature of the car in front of that wing, save to say that it's likely based on the STI. We can guess, however that the extra vertical supports and the use of carbon fiber indicate a higher-performance version than currently exists. Anything from a racing application to some new goodies for the aftermarket are in the realm of possibility.