I've owned an Outback and an XC70. I vastly preferred the latter, despite the cost. It could hold an amazing amount of stuff (partially due to the more boxy rear with fewer protrusions), far more than the Outback.

The XC70 was also amazing to own in the city. It was like driving a mountain goat. There were many times where I was able to parallel park in an uncleared spot in the winter.

A nice retrospection of notable Volvo Wagon incarnations:

https://www.volvocars.com/au/about/australia/i-roll-enewslet...

The VW wagons, like most, have been discontinued except in the "lifted" (a la Outback) form.

Volvos are great, but they're an upmarket marque. IIRC the cheapest wagon they offer stateside starts aroumd $50k.

The base Volvo XC40 starts at $34k in the US. Not cheap, but not $50k

And the XC series are crossovers, not wagons. Their cheapest US wagon is the V60, which starts at $40k (okay, I was wrong) without options, still well over the price of a typical middle-class car-buyer.

I'm just waiting for the cross country wagons to have a plugin hybrid or electric option.

The Volvo XC40 and XC60 both have plug-in hybrid versions available, and the XC40 is also available in a full-electric version

They are nice enough vehicles but they are ugly crossovers, in my opinion. For that kind of money I'd rather buy a beautiful wagon.