Speak to me about 2012+ Volvo XC70, I beseech thee

Our BMW wagon has been a trooper but it's getting long in the tooth. My wife is smitten with her friend's Swedish variant. I'm not opposed to it from a looks and spec sheet standpoint but they are kinda pricy and a great big unknown to me.

Key topics:

• Is it reliable? It will have a warranty but I can't have it on a hook 15x in it's career here.
• Is the AWD good enough for serious winter driving by non-enthusiast wifey type whe needs to get to her jobs?
• Is the backseat big enough to haul 6ft tall people across the country with 2 medium size dogs in the back?
• Can I work on it or is this a hateful design that requires complete disassembly of the entire vehicle to change a timing belt?

Basically... should I bother going to a dealer and irritating myself to REALLY look at one and pursue a deal on behalf of the lovely wife or should I be dismissing it out of hand?

I know that we looked at the new 2014 Wagon and the XC70 which is still based on an older chassis. The XC70 was huge inside, the newer model had a back seat that was essentially useless. No leg room at all.

Oil consumption problems on the 6 cylinder due to a software issue, loose rings and not enough oil in the motor. The software is upgradeable under warranty, a different dipstick is used and more oil added to the engine. Usually fixed it. Pretty solid car, more space like you noted.