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There once was a time — long, long ago — when car buyers knew what a sport-utility was: A Jeep.

OK, if it wasn’t a Jeep, it at least rode like a truck and had a cargo area enclosed with the passenger compartment.

Those simple days are gone, however, and the sport-utility definition is stretching to include all sorts of vehicles.

Take the newest sport-utility entrant from Subaru, the 1997 Impreza Outback Sport.

It’s basically a small station wagon, but its suspension is raised to allow a good 6 inches of ground clearance and it comes standard with all-wheel-drive. Sounds almost like an American Motors Eagle 4×4, doesn’t it?

Thankfully, the Impreza Outback Sport is much more handsome in its styling and dimensions than the ol’ Eagle was in the 1970s.

Drawing on Subaru’s 1995 World Rally Championship winning car, the Impreza Outback Sport has a more aggressive look than typical Impreza wagons. Drivers of the Impreza Outback Sport peer over a hood scoop, and there are cooling vents also on the hood and white-lettered, 15-inch tires on the wheels.

Despite the look, though, this isn’t some super-powered, raging station wagon-truck hybrid.

The 2.2-liter boxer engine puts out 137 horsepower and 145 pounds-feet of torque — enough to make the car scoot along well. The only time I found power lagging was when I was in fifth gear on the highway and starting to climb in the Sierra foothills. Then, I had to shift down to fourth to get a good amount of pep to keep up with traffic, and the engine then was buzzy.

Along curving mountain roads, though, I delighted in the third and fourth gears — perfect for good speed in that terrain — and marveled at the sturdy, road-hugging capabilities of this little, 2,835-pound car.

It handled hard corners with ease, thanks to its low center of gravity. Subaru took care to move mechanicals up under the body for good ground clearance, but that doesn’t make this a real tall vehicle. You don’t have to clamber up into the Impreza Outback Sport, for example. It’s as easy to enter and exit as a car.

And, many sport-utes feel top-heavy to drivers who then are timid on curves and corners. Not so in the Impreza Outback Sport.

Anti-lock brakes are standard and work well on pavement. But off-road — remember, this is an all-wheel-drive vehicle — there’s no way to deactivate them. So, on a gravel road, when I wanted to stop, the brakes prevented me from building up dirt in front of the tires and my stopping distance wasn’t as good as I wanted.

Subaru’s all-wheel-drive system, by the way, allows half the power to go to the front wheels and half to the back in normal driving. When rear wheels slip, however, more power is transferred to the front automatically. The system also shifts power to the rear wheels when the front ones are slipping.

The Impreza O utback Sport has a considerable number of standard features for its $17,995 base price: power windows, mirrors and door locks, air conditioning, even cassette player and rear window wiper.

And it’s not cheap-looking inside, either. Plastic on the dashboard is nicely textured and the rear seat back is angled so rear-seat riders don’t sit upright. The rear seat cushion is up a lot higher than I’d expect, though, and a lot of road noise comes in from the tires.

Don’t think that this Impreza Outback Sport and its bigger stablemate, the Legacy Outback, are the only sport-ute entrants for Subaru. Last week, the Japanese automaker announced a new all-wheel-drive model will debut later this year. Stay tuned.

SPECS

What we drove: 1997 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport, a small, five-door station wagon with all-wheel-drive, a 2.2-liter, four-cylinderboxer engine and five-speed manual transmission.

Base price: $17,995

Price as tested (includes delivery charge): $18,490

Curb weight: 2,835 pounds

Length: 172.2 inches

Turning circle (curb to curb): 33.5 feet

Standard features: Two front air bags; AM/FM stereo with cassette player; power windows, door locks and outside mirrors; rear window wiper and defroster; air conditioning; tachometer; two cup holders; roof rack; two-tone paint; tinted glass; splash guards; tilt steering wheel.

EPA figures: 23 mpg (city), 30 mpg highway

Fuel: Regular unleaded