I had an old mini-van with 140K miles on it last spring. I was trying to have it last as long as it could, but it finally got to the point I couldn't bring myself to put more $ into repairs on it. I had known that used car prices had been going up, but I didn't realize fully how low the inventory of new cars was. My wife and I went to a dealer and they had basically no new cars on the lot, and their used cars were way overpriced. Adding another layer of complexity to our decision was the fact my son will be turning 16 in April 2022, so he would need a reliable car.
Last June, what I eventually did was buy an affordable used car for me to drive for about a year, and then I will give that to my son when he turns 16. That would also allow me to do some additional research and looking at a potential new vehicle for me to buy. Last week, while I was off from work, I stopped at a couple car dealerships to check out what they have and take test drives of vehicles I was interested in. One dealer said that I would be able to work with them to build and get a more customized vehicle built and delivered in 3 months. Another dealer said that they don't do custom orders, and that they just work with interested people on vehicles that come to their dealership. It's just weird how things are right now. If you are able to wait until things are more stable, that's probably your best bet.
