Remember the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser station wagon that served That ‘70s Show’s Forman family so well? Well this ain’t it.

Or how about the Taurus wagon Neil McCauley drives off in, tailgate flapping, after that famous final bank robbery in Heat? Nope.

The Wagon Queen Family Truckster? Absolutely not.

Yes, the Volvo V60 is a station wagon through and through, and it’s wonderful and it’s becoming a rare sight in North America, along with much of its station wagon ilk.

But it shouldn’t be.

Yes, you may have higher ground clearance from your BMW X3, but that also means you have to lift items higher in order to get them into the back.

You may also be able to fit a little more into your X3, but the 1,240 litres you get from your Volvo (optional heated rear seats folded) should be more than enough. How often are the cargo capacities of small crossovers pushed to their limits, anyway?

Plus, I’ve driven the X3 and it simply doesn’t offer what this Volvo can in the dynamics department.

Power comes from a 325 horsepower (hp) turbo inline-six motor, pushed to all four wheels through a Haldex all-wheel drive system. A similarly-equipped X3 only makes 300 hp, and starts at over two-grand more than the V60 does.

And how about those looks? Even my wife, once a card-carrying wagon hater, was stopped in her tracks thanks to that Passion Red finish and 18-inch dual-tone alloys that come as standard with our tester’s R-Design Package. The front fascia may divide opinion, as those headlights are spaced a little too wide for me.

Either way, it’s miles away from the wood panelling and olive drab of those wagons of old.

Plus, you can’t see the headlight lenses from behind the wheel, and you’ll be too busy reveling in the car’s performance creds to think about them anyway.

Peak torque (all 354 lb.-ft. of it) comes in nice and low at 2,100 r.p.m., providing push long enough for you to reach peak hp at 5,600.

When changing directions, it might take some time to get adjusted to the heavy steering feel through an overly-large wheel. But when you do, you’ll remember why you got this wagon in the first place. You can now haul your kids and their hockey gear without having to feel like you’re driving a truck.

Better still, with a properly sorted wagon like this one, you won’t feel like you’re driving a wagon either, rather a turbocharged hot-hatchback with extra room out back.

And heck, if you want an even fuller car-as-hauler effect, opt for the five-cylinder version, saving coin and fuel in the process. European markets have been doing—and continue to do—wagons for years; it’s about time we re-visit what was once such a staple of our automotive landscape.