The Lifted Sedan That Beat Volvo by 25 Years Was Built in Indiana

Before Volvo ever dreamed of jacking up a sedan and calling it a Cross Country, a Massachusetts Subaru dealer had the same idea back in the late 1990s. Ernie Boch Sr. saw that New England drivers needed something that could handle rutted back roads without forcing them into a wagon.

He convinced Subaru to build 300 lifted Legacy sedans for a regional test. They sold so fast that Subaru took the car national for the 1999 model year, calling it the Legacy SUS — short for Sports Utility Sedan.

The SUS was essentially an Outback with a trunk. 3 inches, and threw on a hood scoop for rally-style looks. 5-liter flat-four making 165 horsepower, paired with all-wheel drive and a four-speed automatic. Inside, you got folding rear seats and a weather band radio. It wasn't about to conquer Moab, but it handled broken pavement and light trails with ease.

Subaru kept the concept alive for another eight years under the Outback Sedan name, though most people forget that version ever existed.

The off-road sedan didn't start or end with Subaru. AMC beat everyone to the punch with the Eagle in 1980, offering it as a sedan, coupe, hatchback, and convertible with all-wheel drive. Volvo later took the baton with the S60 Cross Country, building fewer than 3,000 units globally between 2016 and 2019.

Today, a clean Outback Sedan with under 100,000 miles can be hard to find but usually sells for under $8,000. Maintenance runs about $627 a year according to RepairPal, and the 2000–2007 models have relatively few complaints. The biggest headache? Head gasket leaks, which can run around $2,440 to fix.

If you can track one down, it's a capable, quirky daily driver that proves Subaru was way ahead of the curve.