The Subaru Outback Wagon may just be the end of the line.

It might be that last line of defense against, gulp, middle age. It may be the final hope for hip. It could be the last bastion of cool.

In not so many words, that’s the way I described the Outback Wagon to a friend whose wife and mother of two daughters was then considering it as her next car.

He laughed.

"You don’t know my wife that well, but you pegged her," he said.

This is the one you buy if you’re seriously bent against the minivan. It’s the one you think about if you can’t imagine yourself driving a full-sized SUV.

It’s a combination of utility and drivability that used to belong solely to the Outback brand, but with more and more "crossover" vehicles, there are now plenty of options for people who want to the convenience of all-wheel-drive coupled with the utility of a wagon.

In fact, the Outback was a little ahead of its time when it splashed on the scene back in the mid-1990s. Then, Subaru was hoping the Outback, which came in wagon and sedan form, would give the company appeal beyond its "granola-based" cult following.

In some ways, the Outback did just that and it made other car companies, which were then pushing the "bigger is better" SUV theory, that there are alternatives to enormity and the stifling of style known as the minivan.

ON THE ROAD
Personally, I’ve always liked the Outback - and for the reasons stated above. It dared to be different while a lot of companies were chasing one another in giant SUVs. It had a little style and it performed handsomely from its base models to its more well-appointed editions.

The 2007 Outback 2.5 XT did nothing to change my mind, really.

Even though the Outback is fairly crowded with entries such as the Ford Freestyle and even Subaru’s own Forester, which some consider a tall wagon, in the marketplace, the Outback still maintains its personality.

First, it is unmistakably a wagon. It is and has always been nicely balanced when you’re behind the wheel.

The tested XT came outfitted with a 2.5-liter turbo-charged boxer (horizontally opposed) four-cylinder engine that creates 243 horsepower. It is one of three available engines, including a new horizontally-opposed six-cylinder. The tested vehicle also came with an optional five-speed automatic transmission (5-speed stick is standard).

While the 243-horsepower is impressive enough, the Outback lags a little off the mark, at least with the automatic transmission. The manual would probably improve matters somewhat.

The SI-drive program gives the driver three different settings to choose from - sport, sport sharp and intelligent. Sport is the default setting and provides what Subaru considers to be normal car reaction to normal driving conditions.

Sport sharp increases the car’s response to less pedal. For instance, gas-pedal sensitivity is increased, so less pedal means more power.

When in intelligent mode, horsepower and torque are increased and Subaru claims fuel economy can increase by as much as 10 percent from the Outback’s EPA estimates of 20 mpg city and 26 mpg on the highway.

AESTHETICS/COMFORT
The Outback is still a nice design, especially when compared to other wagons. The fog lamps and an aggressive stance helped out by 17-inch alloy wheels help out a nice, beefy overall appearance.

The interior is comfortable and ergonomically sound with one minor exception. The dome lamp is located well behind the Outback’s moonroof and nearly impossible to reach from the driver’s seat without pulling a muscle. Map lights located on the rear-view mirror don’t come on when the doors open, so the front of the car can be a dark place, even when it shouldn’t be.

DOLLARS AND CENTS
The Outback has a large price range, starting at around $22,000 and going up gradually to around $35,000.

The price for the upper-level could be a turn-off for some buyers who now have more options in the "crossover" market, if not the pure station wagon segment.

The XT edition tops out as tested at $34,820, but that includes virtually every option offered by Subaru, including XM radio, automatic transmission and a GPS.