I'm now hunting for cars to buy after my old car got written off.

I'm definitely going for a hybrid. My initial choice was Prius, but is around 20K GBP (~25K USD) new at best.

Used is around 15K-20K GBP (~18K-~25K USD)

Maybe I could go for a Yaris or Auris. Both have hybrid options, and used, the are 10K-15K GBP (~12K-18K USD) for the Auris, and 10K-12K GBP (~12K-15K USD) for the Yaris.

While the Yaris tends to be cheaper, and it's about the same size as my previous car, they seem to come with less options -- all the used car listings, don't contain important options for me: a/c and parking sensors. Anyone who has driven without working aircon will know how hard that is, especially in hot temperatures. That being said, when I lifted the filter to allow non-hybrids, I found one match that has the aircon and parking sensors, and was really cheap, but has a lower MPG, and road tax is chargeable as it is not a hybrid.

Hybrids do not need to pay for road tax as they are green cars. Most noteably, this cheap option does not appear to have a service history and has 2 owners, one or more of those may have been a business. But only racked up 20,000 miles.

When filtering for these options and a few extras (like <5 years, 40K miles max, etc.), the only ones on the list are Auris models. Which are slightly more expensive than the Yaris, and are no longer produced new. So that's something I'll have to bear in mind. It might get harder to find parts for the car should anything happen...