We are two couples traveling in Germany this year and would like some help in vehicle size. With each of us carrying a 26" suitcase and a few carry on type bags who can recommend a car for us. I've been looking at a Volvo V70. Anyone with experience on whether this station wagon will hold our luggage?

Yes, it should, but it will be packed to the roof. Your luggage won't be out of sight, so don't let the car parked anywhere with all that luggage in it...you'd have to be going straight from one lodging to the next and unloading.
I am more concerned that the agency might not actually give you that Volvo V70 estate (wagon), but foist on you the dreaded "or similar" option. Unless you're planning to buy one overseas and drive it around for a while? My father-in-law did that two years ago and enjoyed the experience.

As has been said, the V70 might barely carry everything. If I were you, I'd opt for a standard 7-passenger van, but see if you can get them to take out or omit the 3rd row seats. I'm just afraid you will either get a substitute for the nice V70 or just won't have enough room. Good luck.

Is this for winter travel? Unless you are carrying a lot of bulky ski clothes, I'd recommend that you reduce your luggage by a good third. A 26 inch suitcase is a curse for almost every kind of traveling I know.

Best wishes,

Rex

We had a Volvo V70 for our trip around Scotland this summer. We were a family of three with three 22" rollaboards and a couple of backpacks. We were able to fit all of that under the 'cover' in the back of the wagon, but that pretty much filled up the space. Anything more (larger) than that and we would have had to roll back the cover (thus exposing all the luggage) and start stacking things, and that probably would have affected visibility through the back of the car.

I wouldn't say a 26" suitcase is a curse for traveling--we normally carry a 26" and 27" on trips of 2 weeks or more with no problem at all. But there are only 2 of us.

You do have just 37.4 cu. ft. of cargo space in the V70. How many cu. ft. is each suitcase?

Do try to cut down to a 24" or 22" suitcase, especially with 4 people. The larger vehicles can really make it difficult to navigate some of the narrow streets you're likely to encounter. Four of us managed quite nicely with a Ford Mondeo wagon a couple of years ago but we only had 22" suitcases and a small carry on bag each.

Looking over the original post again, I'm a little confused...when you say "each of us" do you each individual or each couple? Four 26" suitcases, plus a minimum of 4 carryon bags does sound excessive, and I'm not a light packer by any means. But if you mean that each COUPLE will have one 26" case and a couple of carryon bags, then you should be ok. The back of a Volvo V70 should be able to handle 2 good size suitcases and at least two of the carryons and still be able to use the cargo cover (we had a V70 estate for about a year and I recall it handling that amount). But if you really mean four 26" suitcases, you won't be able to hide the luggage.
By the way, has your agency told you what the "or similar" alternatives are?

Is the V70 smaller or larger than an Opel Astra station wagon? We easily got our 26" and 27" suitcases (one of each) and daypacks into the back of the Astra. With 4 such suitcases, we would not have been able to use the cargo cover, but we could have jammed them in there.