Op here:
Thank you everyone. My husband and I went yesterday to a dealership near us and got lucky. They just had a shipment of a few new CX-5s come in and we were able to snag a 2021 CX-5 signature for $37,570. Brought our uppababy Mesa with us and it fit perfectly fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking the Cx5 and there is decent availability compared to comparable suvs. You will likely have to put down a deposit on a car in production, but that isn’t that big a deal. You can survive a few weeks with your current car and a newborn, you won’t be driving around much anyway.

Op here: again, I am not planning on keeping my current car and want a new one before baby is here.

Then why didn’t you start the process sooner with all the supply chain issues??

We have a CX-5 with two kids. It’s been a good car, but it’s definitely tight in the backseat with two car seats. When we had a backwards facing convertible seat the passenger side had to be pretty far forward to fit. It was fine but not the most comfortable if you are going to have someone sitting there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking the Cx5 and there is decent availability compared to comparable suvs. You will likely have to put down a deposit on a car in production, but that isn’t that big a deal. You can survive a few weeks with your current car and a newborn, you won’t be driving around much anyway.

Op here: again, I am not planning on keeping my current car and want a new one before baby is here.

Well, good time to learn that you don’t get everything you want, you don’t have ability to overcome global supply chain issues that are affecting the entire market. And it may be possible for a car to be here by end of April if you order now. We waited only 3 weeks from order to delivery for a bmw suv.

We bought a CX-5 in December right before our daughter was born. Love the CX-5 itself, but it is a small backseat with the car seat (we have the Uppababy Mesa). I usually sit in the back behind DH and we have the baby behind the passenger seat.
It will feel even tighter once we have a convertible seat back there and a 2nd kid. You may want to bring the car seat to test drive everything (and I'd do it now... test driving cars at 9 months pregnant was brutal).

Anonymous wrote:We are looking the Cx5 and there is decent availability compared to comparable suvs. You will likely have to put down a deposit on a car in production, but that isn’t that big a deal. You can survive a few weeks with your current car and a newborn, you won’t be driving around much anyway.

Op here: again, I am not planning on keeping my current car and want a new one before baby is here.

We are looking the Cx5 and there is decent availability compared to comparable suvs. You will likely have to put down a deposit on a car in production, but that isn’t that big a deal. You can survive a few weeks with your current car and a newborn, you won’t be driving around much anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound brand loyal, so just get a Mazda. If you have to wait a few months, you will be fine with your 5-year-old car. I don’t know how much driving you do with a newborn anyway. Most you just sit around in sweat pants.

OP here: thanks but keeping my current car isn’t an option. It’s seriously issue after issue with it (needed a brand new transmission as transmission blew 8 months after I got it while on the highway) and it’s been 500 things since then. I do NOT feel comfortable driving a newborn in it and my husband has a truck so that’s not an option. I’ll literally never buy a Ford again after owning this POS. Yes, I do love Mazda but posted looking for other options as well because they seem so hard to find right now.

I don't work for Ford, but sorry to read that your Ford has given you problems. I drive a Ford Explorer that's been good to me. I will buy another one in a heartbeat when my current vehicle expires.

I’m also due in April and just went through this. We bought our car first week of January and it just came last week. Was deciding between a CRV and Mazda CX-5 and went with the CRV Because the Mazda felt very cramped to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Subaru Outback or Subaru Forester with the Limited trimline will be in your price range for a new car. Call around to dealerships and be willing to travel to within 250 miles to go pick up the vehicle.

Outback Limited is nicely appointed and very safe and reliable. Lots of options, though.

Not an SUV. And they would be small for a car seat

What are you talking about? There is PLENTY of room for a rear facing car seat in an Outback. We had three in a row including one rear facing in ours and my husband is six feet tall.

LOL. As a Golf owner, this is hilarious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Subaru Outback or Subaru Forester with the Limited trimline will be in your price range for a new car. Call around to dealerships and be willing to travel to within 250 miles to go pick up the vehicle.

Outback Limited is nicely appointed and very safe and reliable. Lots of options, though.

Not an SUV. And they would be small for a car seat

What are you talking about? There is PLENTY of room for a rear facing car seat in an Outback. We had three in a row including one rear facing in ours and my husband is six feet tall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound brand loyal, so just get a Mazda. If you have to wait a few months, you will be fine with your 5-year-old car. I don’t know how much driving you do with a newborn anyway. Most you just sit around in sweat pants.

OP here: thanks but keeping my current car isn’t an option. It’s seriously issue after issue with it (needed a brand new transmission as transmission blew 8 months after I got it while on the highway) and it’s been 500 things since then. I do NOT feel comfortable driving a newborn in it and my husband has a truck so that’s not an option. I’ll literally never buy a Ford again after owning this POS. Yes, I do love Mazda but posted looking for other options as well because they seem so hard to find right now.

Unfortunately from my understanding in researching during my outback buying process, inventory is extremely low everywhere similar to Mazda. So maybe the best bet is to be flexible with color/trim level and just call around til someone has something come in that isn’t already claimed and you can snag it. For Subaru most in the pipeline were already spoken for but they did have people sometimes change their mind on a car they factory ordered for example etc. the name of the game right now is either flexibility with features/color if you want it quick, or exercising a lot of patience to get exactly what you want. It’s not great.

Anonymous wrote:You sound brand loyal, so just get a Mazda. If you have to wait a few months, you will be fine with your 5-year-old car. I don’t know how much driving you do with a newborn anyway. Most you just sit around in sweat pants.

OP here: thanks but keeping my current car isn’t an option. It’s seriously issue after issue with it (needed a brand new transmission as transmission blew 8 months after I got it while on the highway) and it’s been 500 things since then. I do NOT feel comfortable driving a newborn in it and my husband has a truck so that’s not an option. I’ll literally never buy a Ford again after owning this POS. Yes, I do love Mazda but posted looking for other options as well because they seem so hard to find right now.

You sound brand loyal, so just get a Mazda. If you have to wait a few months, you will be fine with your 5-year-old car. I don’t know how much driving you do with a newborn anyway. Most you just sit around in sweat pants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Subaru Outback or Subaru Forester with the Limited trimline will be in your price range for a new car. Call around to dealerships and be willing to travel to within 250 miles to go pick up the vehicle.

We ordered our Outback in November. We’re told that we may finally get it this month, but I’m not counting on it. You may find a handful of used ones on a lot somewhere, if you’re lucky.

I mean, if you're ordering a car from Subaru you clearly had very specific options you wanted. You probably wanted an Onyx or Wilderness trimline, which are difficult to find right now.

Herb Gordon has 11 Outbacks sitting on their lot in the OP's price range, both Premium and Limited models (both trimlines are great with lots of tech + options): https://www.herbgordonsubaru.com/new-inventory/index.htm?model=Outback

Ourisman Waldorf has one Forester Sport on the lot: https://www.ourismansubaruwaldorf.com/new-inventory/index.htm?model=Forester

There's availability out there within 100 miles of DC. The Forester in OP's price ranger seems to be harder to find right now compared to the Outback, but they are out there. Subaru dealerships have been very good in the past year about not marking up prices higher than MSRP.

Nope, just wanted a Limited. There were none on the lot when we looked. All they had were a couple of used ones, which didn’t interest us, especially since they were not that much cheaper than ordering a new one from the factory. I think you’re overestimating the inventory. I just checked the website you linked to. They have five Limited Outback’s for sale. Car inventory is low all over.