The title doesn’t exist, but in this essay, we’re creating it: the Subaru is the National Car of New England and, for that matter, it’s the National Car of the Northwest. They are both geographical areas that get feisty weather – rain, high winds, snow, blizzards, mud, muck – and feisty weather is not great for the high-priced and high-strung two-wheel-drive boulevard strutters (you know who you are) that have snob appeal in the United States these days. They’re pretty, but can they hack a blizzard? For the most part, no.

When that storm finds you, look outside that Vermont window, peer through that sideways-blowing snowstorm and see what’s on the road. Enter Subaru; in this case, the 2015 Subaru Outback, a refresh of the previous generation although, to the untrained eye, it’s difficult to tell the difference between a 2014 Outback and a 2015. (Hint: check the grille. The 2014’s chrome bar that crossed the top of the grille is gone.)

The Outback is the car that, like the Lexus RX line and a few others, has successfully carved out a market in the so-called “Crossover” class. These vehicles ride on car platforms but are gussied up to look like station wagons and SUVs. The dividend for the driver and passengers is that you get less of that bumpy, topsy-turvy truck ride that you get in body-on-frame trucks (especially, trucks) and SUVs. The tradeoff is that crossovers tend not to have the muscles for true off-roading – you won’t be taking your Outback over the truly rocky Outback. As the auto makers know, however, few owners of 4WD or AWD cars and wagons venture much farther than the outback of the nearest shopping center parking lot. Their biggest test is in negotiating the mash-up corner of the parking lot that the snowplow has filled with that day’s offering from the gods.

On the other hand, I can tell you from the experience of driving my niece’s Outback several years ago that Subarus will venture confidently through most snowstorms and a few blizzards. It’s the symmetrical all-wheel-drive system that Subaru has been putting on their cars for decades that does it.

So what do we get this year, with the 2015 refresh? More stiffness and rigidity in the body, which makes the car actually feel more like a sport wagon in the twisties. Power choices are similar to earlier models – the base Outback, which starts at $25,745, offers a 2.5-liter four-cylinder boxer engine (so named because the pistons lie flat, parallel to the road, and go in and out as if they were boxing with each other, right side to left side.) The four-cylinder car puts out 175 horses and comes with a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Fuel mileage figures: 25/33 mpg, city/highway. Our test Outback, the 3.6R Limited, starts at $32,995 and, with $2,195 in options (moonroof, keyless remote entry, and navigation) and $850 in delivery (Hey, Subaru, stop charging the customer nearly $1,000 just for getting the product to the store), had a sticker price of $36,040.

The 3.6R’s mileage figures are poorer than the four-cylinder car – 20/27 mpg, city/highway – but if you don’t mind paying more gas each year, then the difference in power might be worth it. I’ve driven both power trains and while I prefer the 3.6R I’d still go with the four-cylinder if for no other reason than a wish to feed the oil companies as little of my money as I can.

On the road, the Outback is sturdy, comforting (all that AWD security) and, well, like a car. Not like a truck. It’s deceptive – you think that maybe it is just a car and won’t haul what an SUV will haul. But it does have 73 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats down and 35 feet with those seats up. That’s about average in the world of crossovers, but it’s plenty for a family of three or four with a few suitcases and odd bags.

Other fillips I liked: aftermarket crossbars on roof rails are the bane of any highway trip. They whistle loudly and because they’re not aerodynamic, they cut down on fuel economy. The Outback has collapsible crossbars that fit into the roof rails when they’re not being used. A neat trick. There’s also an option called Eyesight, which is similar to systems on other cars – using cameras mounted near the interior rear-view mirror, Eyesight manages to bring down your speed or even stop the car if it detects an immovable object in front of it; like another car. The cameras, however, are quite visible and give a kind of spaceship look to an otherwise conservative interior.

If you’re looking for something with a bit of pizazz, some flash, a wink and a nod, this is not the car for you. (You’ll probably want to head for a more Germanic retailer.) But if you want something that gets the job done and complaints little, then this may well be the car for you.

And there are those snow storms. They should be here any month now.

For more consumer information on cars, check these Web sites:

Safety data can be found at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)  and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Reliability information can be seen in the  dependability studies conducted by J.D. Power; and at Consumer Reports.

Fuel mileage figures are available at this site, maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy.

For trivia lovers: the sticker you see on the window of every new car for sale in the United States is known in the auto industry as the “Monroney.” It is named for U.S. Senator Almer Stilwell (Mike) Monroney, the Oklahoma Democrat who sponsored the Automobile Information Disclosure Act of 1958, which required all new cars to have labels that detail the price of the car and its options.