OP, in my humble opinion, get a base Honda Accord (LX version), or the best one within the budget, like EX or Sport. If I remember correctly, a base Prius will cost about as much as a Honda Accord EX, and a whole lot more money than Honda Accord LX. The base Prius is equipped about as well as Honda Accord LX, but Accord is faster and more refined in almost every way. I did some back of the napkin calculations, it it seems like you need to drive something like 60-100 thousand miles in a Prius before it "break even" in relation to the less expensive, but more refined in a few ways, Accord LX.
At the same time, Prius is certainly a solid car. Pretty nice zippy, economical and practical car for commuting, and still quite a good value, specially the base models. But they lack the refinement of a lot of cars that cost more than 20 grand. Poor sound isolation. It feels like a tin can, and the driver seat is not electric in most trims, which is ridiculous in the Prius price range IMHO.