Not sure why, but 2006 was the last year for the third row of seats in the wagon.

It's a shame, that was the only seven seater wagon that could be purchased, and the only seven seater with manual transmission (in the United States). There's still a 6-seater out there (the Mazda5), but it's not a Volvo.

Oh well. I'll be driving my '93 945T for a while longer I guess. Plus it has the benefit of not having a passenger side air-bag, thus I can let my grade-school age sons ride with me in the front (using the seatbelt and just one at a time of course).

Too bad. I wonder if it was deemed a safety liability and killed accordingly?

Our 3rd seat is VERY handy for the odd time we have visitors. I'll be driving my '89 745 for a few more yrs too.
--
Norm Cook; Vancouver BC; 1989 745T 210,000KM

I don't think it is a liability issue. Otherwise why would MB still offer it on their wagons? I think it's a marketing ploy to get more buyers out there to buy the thirsty SUV the XC90. I mean if wagons still offered the the third row seats, then no one would really consider the XC90 other than it's AWD capabilities..oh wait that's not it...or it's off road prowess...oh wait it's not that either. So why else would we buy the XC90?

>>> I don't think it is a liability issue. Otherwise why would MB still offer it on their wagons? <<<

Good point.

My thought was that when the 3rd row seats were first offered, minivans were just getting started and there was demand for a seven-seat vehicle. Now, with minivan's everywhere as well as 7 seat SUVs, and due to the limitations of the back row of seats (less than 88 pounds, under 5' in height) there just wasn't that much demand.

Volvo sold only something like 80,000 vehicles in the US in '05. Out of those, how many were V70s? 8,000 or 10,000? (wild guess) Out of those, how many were sold with third row seats, maybe 20%? Just not enough to support that concept, especially now that, as you noted, the XC90 is out there. And the XC90 is a nice vehicle, my brother-in-law has a loaded version. It's not my style so I wouldn't own one (not to mention the cost), but it's nice.