See my XC40 reply on your other thread.

I'm hearing exactly the same thing on other car/motoring sites.

Due to the virus, nobody has any stock, and it's going to take a few months for makers to catch up.

Apparently one major Ford Dealer in the Midlands has all of 2 cars in the showroom.

Now that the Corolla is off the list its back to the XC40 but before that I decided to scan WhatCar and see what other estates might tempt me.

None to be honest, Audi, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Vauxhall, Peugeot, Mazda etc something was unavailable on all of them or the prices were daft.

But the VW Passat in 2.0 TSi SEL spec seemed to tick all the boxes. Only option needed was to upgrade from A/C to climate and add a spare wheel (£160 for a matching alloy with proper sized tyre). Rang dealer to make appointment and went down about 10 minutes later, it was deserted. Told him what i wanted and was told it was not in their core market place and they did not have one to look at, the only Passat on site was a GTE plug in. He kindly looked on their group stock, non available and then on Autotrader to see if there were any used ones close by for me to go and see/drive, nearest was 150 miles away. Then he tried to sell me a Tiguan which i said no to and left.

When I got home and looked on Autotrader the cars were indeed rare but I did find one about an hour away (no idea why his search missed it) and rang to see if I could get a drive explaining that it was actually a new one I wanted. Salesman said that it would be a factory order but unfortunately VW were no longer doing the 2.0 TSi or the 4 x 4 290 PS versions for 2021 model year and form their current info the hybrid had been dropped as well.

So much for that idea.

A Skoda Superb has similar engines.

Only in dsg flavours though.

Now that the Corolla is off the list its back to the XC40 but before that I decided to scan WhatCar and see what other estates might tempt me.

None to be honest, Audi, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Vauxhall, Peugeot, Mazda etc something was unavailable on all of them or the prices were daft.

But the VW Passat in 2.0 TSi SEL spec seemed to tick all the boxes. Only option needed was to upgrade from A/C to climate and add a spare wheel (£160 for a matching alloy with proper sized tyre). Rang dealer to make appointment and went down about 10 minutes later, it was deserted. Told him what i wanted and was told it was not in their core market place and they did not have one to look at, the only Passat on site was a GTE plug in. He kindly looked on their group stock, non available and then on Autotrader to see if there were any used ones close by for me to go and see/drive, nearest was 150 miles away. Then he tried to sell me a Tiguan which i said no to and left.

When I got home and looked on Autotrader the cars were indeed rare but I did find one about an hour away (no idea why his search missed it) and rang to see if I could get a drive explaining that it was actually a new one I wanted. Salesman said that it would be a factory order but unfortunately VW were no longer doing the 2.0 TSi or the 4 x 4 290 PS versions for 2021 model year and form their current info the hybrid had been dropped as well.

So much for that idea.

So rang another Volvo dealer about the XC40. Again few cars to look at and they were not expecting any stock cars or demonstrators until September at the earliest. All deliveries up till then would be existing customer orders.

Good job we are not in a hurry.

I had the same problem 3 years ago when looking for a replacement for my (then) 11yo Mazda3. Looked at about 6-8 cars in general from different makes, and was not bowled over by any of them, even from Mazda - the current model then (gen-3 car) was not much better than mine, drive-wise, so I wasn't going to shell out £16k - £17k+ for something not much better than what I already had.

Like you, my current car wasn't on its last legs, so I just put the exercise on hold whilst my life was effectively too when I jacked in my career in Construction a couple of months later.

There is more choice for me now, but the prices are sky high in comparison to 3 years ago and deals aren't anywhere near is forthcoming (even before COVID) or as good, mostly because of the high starting prices.

I don't think me wanting an automatic that is both reliable long-term, good to drive and at least 30% more powerful than my existing (manual) car (something with a 0-60 in the 7-9sec range) helps, nor that most of the ones with the upper-ish engine specs cannot be shod on sensible wheels and tyres - especially when I'm not prepared to break the bank to do so: I'd rather not have to pay 3x the price I paid for my existing car for its replacement.

I'm just glad that my existing car is still going OK (touch wood) - it gives me the option of waiting-and-seeing.