It=s shape is now so familiar that it=s hard to remember that Subaru=s Outback was a breakthrough. For years, Subaru preached the virtues of all-wheel drive, even making four-footedness standard across its range. Excepting those in colder climates, though, America seemed not to hear the word.

Then the Outback arrived from Indiana by Japan with a detour through Alice Springs. A Legacy wagon with rear roof raised and racked and big driving lights up front (and arriving near the peak of a brief national fascination with things AAustralian@), the Outback added pizzaz to the message; conservative Subarus suddenly glowed in the light of their muscular-appearing leader and headed off the lots.

1999 marks the end of the current Outback; the 2000 has already been announced, with more power and more room. Roman year MCMIC is also Subaru=s 30^th anniversary in the U.S. The two events combine to form our test vehicle.

Can it be 30 years since Fuji Heavy Industries brought the first Subaru to our shores? Do you remember the Subaru 360? Two years before the oil crisis, an entrepreneur by the name of Malcolm Bricklin decided that America was ready for a Japanese minicar. Yes, before the Bricklin SV-1, before the Yugo, there was the 360. Bricklin wasn=t entirely right about the timing, and a number of 360s wound up as five-laps -for-a-dollar rides at a go-kart track next to Subaru=s Cherry Hill, New Jersey headquarters. Through Shaker virtues of plainness and simplicity, subsequent models came to warm American hearts, particularly among the iconoclastic and snowbound.

But it took the Outback to make Subarus trendy. Subaru, of course, markets this as the world=s first Sport Utility Wagon (or Spat Utelity Wiggin, thanks Mr. Hogan), and the Outback blurs the lines even further between what=s a car and what=s a truck. It has 4-wheel drive and fair dinkum ground clearance. Yet it drives easily, in a very carlike manner. One is quite connected to the road in the Outback. You=re not way high up as you are in some of the truckier Sport Utility Vehicles, nor does the ride remind one of a truck. On the down side, you also don=t have as much room inside because, although this is a wagon, it is not a tall wagon; internal carrying capacity is less than some of the taller utility conveyances.

The 30^th Anniversary model starts as an Outback Limited, which comes with dual power moonroofs (the front tilts, the rear slides); two-tone paint, roof rack, remote keyless entry, leather interior and trim, AM-FM-CD with weather band, 15" 5-spoke alloys, heated front seats and mirrors (a real and often overlooked plus, especially on ice storm days), cargo area 12V outlet, power everything, air conditioning, and cruise control. The anniversary package adds fake woodgrain interior trim (which really did warm up the interior of what can be a spartan vehicle); adjustable intermittent wipers, and unique badging and lights.
 

INSIDE & OUT

Earlier Subaru interiors were like CIA furniture, with utility more fashionable than aesthetics. Unfortunately, they tended toward plastic and switches that looked cheap, especially in bright direct sunlight. (Heaven knows, I don=t look good in bright direct sunlight either.) The 30^th Anniversary model B and 99s in general B feature much nicer finishes. Outbacks make do with a simple but clear instrument panel with fuel, temperature, revs and speed, very clear at night, lit green. There=s also a warning for automatic transmission oil temperature, the first we=ve seen on a vehicle.

Outside, clues that you=ve spotted an Outback include the raised rear roof, higher clearance, and the big fog lights below the bumper in the front air dam with mesh stone guards. That very Kenya touch may be a little much for around town, but, hey, it works for Range Rover. They put out lots of light, but they only work if the headlights are on.

The blown roof means that everybody gets plenty of head room. If you=re not Gheorghe Muresan, you can fit in this car. (If you do have to pick up Gheorghe at the airport, we recommend the roof rack.) Even the Splendid Co-Driver noticed: AI never notice head room in almost any vehicle because I don=t really need any, but the primary driver is making little pat on the head gestures. It=s not just because he=s very good, but because he could actually wear about an 82 gallon hat and still not have it mush his hair. (I did B ed.) She also commended the front leg room.

The steering wheel=s very thick and yet grippy; you can get a good hold of it. AIt has a nice feel, especially for a noncovered steering wheel,@ agreed the Splendid One. (Another reason to like the Subaru: When I turned its radio on, the very first voice I heard was Mary Chapin Carpenter. Sigh. I don=t believe she=s standard.) A lever on the left side of the driver=s seat adjusts the height of the seat so you can sit up high if you=re a smaller person. It=s not a power adjustment, but a telescoping lever lets you add leverage as needed.

Air circulation in the Subaru falls in the Agood enough but not overwhelming unless you turn up the fan to >noisy=@ category. The air conditioner doesn=t sap a lot of power, and that=s important, as this car is hardly overburdened with low end torque. Heat comes up very quickly, with less than a minute and a half to get useful heat out of all of the ducts. Climate controls are simple and easily understood.

Cruise control is by the same small paddle sticking out from the steering column favored by Mitsubishi, with accelerate and resume up, set and coast down, and flicking the lever back cancels cruise without putting on the brake lights.

As with so many cars these days, rear windows on the Outback do not go all the way down. In fact, they don=t even go most of the way down. The rear wiper on the Outback lacks an interval setting. Thoughtfully, the auto down switch for the driver=s window has a little LED above it that goes on when the headlights are on so it=s easy to find that switch at night. What used to be the cigarette lighter is marked >socket=; it has a cousin in the rear cargo area.

The Splendid Co-Driver likes the outward visibility: AThe hood is canted down so that you=re not seeing a whole lot of hood, but a whole lot of front glass.@ She appreciated being able to adjust the shoulder harness height, but wasn=t as happy with the internal storage. AThe deep compartment in the middle looks like it sort of isn=t terribly well suited to anything. Maybe cassette tapes, but it doesn=t look like it=s wide enough for CDs.@ (It holds the big drinks B ed.) AToo bad nobody bothered to put sort of locked compartments in, especially those are becoming more common and aren=t rocket science anymore. The glove compartment seems reasonably deep, though. The coin holder is actually small and handy and not fancy and spring loaded so you can=t get the coins out which is nice.@

In the back, a two thirds/one third split in the rear seats allows long items (like Gheorghe) to extend beyond the cargo compartment. That aftmost compartment is protected by a rimmed rubber mat, to contain spills, which the SC-D called Aa thoughtful and useful feature.@ The mat=s finish is slick, though, so things slide all over. AThey could use a cargo net for putting in groceries. Maybe people who get this car have other people get their groceries or use another vehicle or don=t eat, but the groceries in the back are going to spill around all over the place and I=m not looking forward to chasing bananas when I get back.@

It occurs to us that Chasing Bananas would be an excellent name for a rock band.
 
 

ON THE ROAD

The ground clearance that makes for a decent Spat Utelity Wiggin is very useful around town. The Outback just shrugs off wet roads and puddles. When you pull up to a curb, the first part of the Subaru that hits it is the tires, exactly as you want. Those tires are the now-ubiquitous Michelin XW4s, here in 205/70 SR-15. We find them better suited to this vehicle than to others we=ve driven; maybe it=s the weight of the vehicle or just something about the suspension dynamics, but they respond and grip much better here than we=ve seen before.

The Outback soaks up street irregularities and rumble strips remarkably well, which makes sense because an off road vehicle requires long wheel travel to go up over rocks and such, the same formula B albeit with somewhat different shock valving B that graces the best luxury cars. BMWs and Audis owe their superior rides to long wheel travel with a lot of damping. The Outback has the same thing for a different reason. The difference between this and some of the sport utility trucks is that the springs feel much softer, so you get the benefits of the increased wheel travel without being jarred by every little bump. We took the Outback through the worst most deeply rutted road we know and the suspension soaked up the deep potholes quite well. It was plain that we were going through something rough, but it didn=t throw us all about.

As we mentioned, there=s a very good sense of connection to the road in this car, and more grip than one expects. Overcook a corner and the Subaru rolls gently over, takes a set and sticks. Try that in your Rangebuster TestostoTruck and you=ll likely be counting EMS techs. In fact, we like the handling of this car better than some $42,000 cars we could name.

We proved that later, when circumstances required an emergency lane change maneuver. While there=s a little bit of roll when you first turn in, it=s not nearly as much as in, say, a Saab 9000 or even a 99 VW GTI, and the car does respond. This is one of the things that happens when you have not too heavy a car and a substantial amount of tire on the ground. The 4-wheel independent suspension helps, too.

The Outback won=t set any acceleration records, however. When you stand on it, the engine B the same 2.5 that propels the Impreza RS so well B labors mightily, surrendering its vim to the auto tranny. Much sound and fury signifying comparatively little.

At higher speeds, though, all is serene. ARunning at 30 MPH it seems relatively quiet for a vehicle with this much tire, which is not something that I have come to expect,@ praised the SC-D. AThis vehicle is pleasant to drive and reasonably easy to adjust to from the much smaller thing we usually drive. I could probably drive a long trip in this.@

This vehicle, in fact, may go into the Hard Drive Garage as the best Q car, a car that nobody expects to be fun or a performer, but shines. With a little more power it would be a shoo-in, but just on handling alone this is a deceptively good car.

We generally saw 25-26 miles per gallon, again better than your average Giganto BushTamer.
 
 

SUMMING UP

The 1999 Outback was noticeably better built than some earlier Subarus, and it=s not because they=re slowing down in Indiana. In fact, Subaru just had it=s best 4^th quarter sales ever. Next year=s car is bigger and more powerful, but if you=re looking for a vehicle that combines space and driving confidence, this Outback fills the bill.

Let=s let Her Splendidness say the rest:

AA perfectly serviceable, a-little-more-rugged-than-standard family type vehicle for two or three kids and to haul around some equipment and stuff, yet you don=t become the primary driver of the entire softball team. It looks like it can probably stand up to some pretty rugged child-based abuse and still keep on rolling and by the time you cared about the interior maybe your kids would be gone. In compensation for all this >God, we have to have something to get us through this phase of the kids= stage, it actually has some pleasant driving features.@

AIt=s not just a family vehicle; it could certainly also be what someone would buy if they didn=t really need a luxury look and they did want something they could take on weekend adventures and not pay the big bucks for a prestige sports utility vehicle. Throw a lot of equipment in and like that. So it would be an alternative to that whole sort of Explorer class, a slightly more suburban alternative. It seems like it=s positioned itself effectively between a standard station wagon and one of the sport utility vehicles.@

AInterestingly, for a vehicle that=s a cross between a station wagon and SUV, it feels like it has more soul than, say, the Infiniti Q45.@

Not a truck. Not a car. Not a high-end luxomobile, but about as far from spartan as you can get. The Outback has found the Happy Medium.
 

(Oh, if you prefer a more formal vehicle, try the Legacy SUS, the same car with a trunk instead of a cargo compartment. All of the above comments apply to the SUS as well.)