BY STEVE SPENCE
Be careful what you ask for in life. You may get it. Take the Subaru Outback. When the current version of the four-cylinder wagon appeared in the summer of '95, U.S. marketers waged a campaign to have it categorized as a sport-utility vehicle. A few years later, Subaru produced a more traditional sport-ute, the compact Forester, and seemed to lighten up. Now we notice that the Japanese automaker has gone so far as to acquire a registered copyright declaring its Outback to be the "World's First Sport-Utility Wagon."
Okay, if Audi can call its wagons Avants after those front-drive Citroens from the Pleistocene Epoch, then awright awready, it's a sport-ute wagon. And now, finally, Subaru has acquired something even more important: a robust six-cylinder engine.
As a hauler of humans and their stuff, the five-passenger Outback is a capable performer. But that's not the reason to buy one. What drivers perceive to be special about Subarus, from the sporty Impreza to the businesslike Legacy sedan, is they all come with full-time four-wheel drive -- none of this part-time or "on demand" business -- and in the Outback's case, 7.3 inches of ground clearance, putting it up there within an inch of the off-road-capable Chevy Blazer and Nissan Xterra. Therefore, Subaru reasons, its wagon is a sport-ute in disguise, and as such, it has a clear edge in performance and fuel economy over most truck-based SUVs. Well, if somebody suggests a traverse of the Continental Divide in one without the benefit of asphalt beneath its tires, our advice is this: Don't go there.
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