Subaru Outback vs Volvo V60

One of the nameplates that helped define the crossover craze now stands out as strikingly different. The 2025 Subaru Outback is one of the last remaining station wagons on the market. However, given that it's currently based on the soon-to-be-discontinued Subaru Legacy sedan, the Outback is likely to shift away from its current low-slung long-roof shape soon. That means this could be your last opportunity to park Crocodile Dundee’s favorite ride in your driveway.

Verdict: The Outback offers a unique combination of practicality and value, but it’s held back by lackluster tech.

Station wagons are to Volvo what pickup trucks are to Ford or Chevrolet. They’re this automaker’s bread and butter, vehicles that are integral to the Volvo brand and that represent a comfort zone for the Swedish automaker’s designers and engineers.

So while wagons have been declining in popularity for decades, Volvo has stuck with them. The current-generation Volvo V60 was introduced for the 2019 model year as the wagon companion to the Volvo S60 sedan. Its closest competitor is the Audi A4 Allroad, a similarly-sized wagon from another luxury brand. Given the lack of choices, the V60 could also be cross-shopped against the larger Audi A6 Allroad and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, as well the Subaru Outback, which lacks a prestige badge but fills a similar functional niche.

Because the V60 is relatively fresh, it gets no significant changes for the 2021 model year. Volvo offers the standard 2021 V60 in Momentum, Inscription, and R-Design trim levels but also has two spinoff versions of the wagon. The V60 T8 Polestar Engineered sports a plug-in hybrid powertrain, while the Volvo V60 Cross Country gets more SUV-like styling. We tested a Cross Country for this review.