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I’D DRIVEN one last year, but was disappointed. I expected a go-anywhere, do-anything station wagon. Subaru sent a motorized marketing scheme instead. That was the 1995 Subaru Legacy Outback, a vehicle with more side moldings than substance. The 1996 model is different. It’s what it’s supposed to be, what Subaru calls a “sport-utility wagon.”

The company’s publicists describe the new Legacy Outback as the “first vehicle that fills a niche bridging the gap between the sport-utility vehicle and the passenger car.” It ain’t true.

Memory serves up and automotive reference books confirm the existence of the ugly, high-riding, four-wheel-drive Eagle and Concorde wagons, produced by American Motors Corp. in the mid-1980s.

Maybe Subaru meant that it finally has given us a wagon that does what the old Eagle and Concorde did — go just about anywhere and haul almost anything without sacrificing the ride of a reasonably well-built passenger car. That’s quite an accomplishment, especially inasmuch as the new Legacy Outback is a good looker to boot.

Background: Alternative four-wheel-drive vehicles? You betcha. Look for more of them as the four-wheel-drive market grows. The 1996 Legacy Outback is one example. Toyota’s new subcompact RAV4 and Suzuki’s new sports car-utility X-90 vehicle are two others.

It was bound to happen. Some consumers want four-wheel-drive but don’t want a big box with a big engine atop big wheels. They want something more maneuverable, less trucklike, more carlike, but capable of making it through the muck and the rocks.

Subaru’s 1996 Legacy Outback fits the bill; and again, I emphasize the model year — 1996. The 1995 version, although a fine station wagon, was a gilded poseur, bereft of any mechanical distinction that set it apart from a regular Legacy all-wheel-drive wagon.

Some key differences: The new Legacy Outback rides higher with a ground clearance of 7.3 inches, compared with a 6.1-inch clearance for last year’s model. The suspension work is improved — less bounce and flounce. Overall the new Legacy Outback feels tighter and better built than its predecessor. (Now I believe it when Subaru says its Outback meets 1997 federal side-impact crash standards.)

The new Legacy Outback comes with a 2.2-liter, 16-valve, horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine rated 135 horsepower at 5,400 rpm — with max torque set at 140 pound-feet at 4,400 rpm. A 2.5-liter version of that engine, installed in the test car, is available. The bigger engine is rated 155 horsepower at 5,600 rpm with max torque set at 155 pound-feet at 2,800 rpm.

Standard equipment includes dual-front air bags, four-wheel-disc brakes with anti-lock backup and a five-speed manual transmission. A four-speed automatic is optional.

Complaints: It takes a while to get used to the driving feel. In the beginning, you feel as though you’re in a little tank. But you’re cruising before you know it.

Praise: The 1996 model is such an overall fine execution of the Outback concept, one wonders why Subaru bothered to introduce the pitifully different 1995 wagon.

Head-turning quotient: Turns heads in suburbia, where it gets kudos from the country club set. Looks out of place at city nightspots. Ride, acceleration and handling: Triple aces. In this case, the ace for acceleration applies to highway lane-change competence. Braking was excellent.

Mileage: In the tested 2.5-liter Legacy Outback with automatic transmission, about 23 miles per gallon, pretty good for an all-wheel-drive vehicle. Fuel capacity is 15.9 gallons. Estimated range is 350 miles on usable volume of regular unleaded, running combined city-highway with five passengers.

Cargo capacity: With the rear seats up, the Legacy Outback can handle 36.5 cubic feet of cargo, compared with 73.6 cubic feet with the rear seats down.

Sound system: Eighty-watt, six-speaker AM/FM ste eo radio and cassette installed by Subaru. Very good.

Price: Base price for the tested Legacy Outback is $23,395. Dealer invoice price $21,573. Price as tested is $23,890, including a $495 destination charge.

Purse-strings note: The 1996 Subaru Legacy Outback is the perfect alternative four-wheel-drive vehicle for people who have considered a minivan when a Ford Explorer wasn’t enough.