My wife and I are moving to Austin, TX in March and will need to buy a car. We're moving from overseas, which means we are definitely selling our current car and starting from scratch.
I reckon we drive about 10K miles a year, more city than highway. If money were no matter, I'd get a Tesla (or at least some kind of all-electric car), but obviously money is important, and I'd like to make a Mustachian decision. I want a sedan or hatchback, would love to have a hybrid or electric car, and my wish list includes a backup camera and Apple CarPlay, but I'm open to being steered towards the most sensible decision. I generally don't care much about cars beyond comfort and practicality.
I'm honestly not sure how to proceed. How many years back to look, which models to consider, and even whether a new car should be among the possible choices. I've perused used-by-owner listings on OfferUp and Craigslist, where I have generally observed that 3-5 year old cars seem to be about $10K and 10-15 year old cars seem to be about $5K. But I haven't seen much as far as models that have grabbed my attention. I've even toyed with the idea of whether a new car is justifiable (e.g. a Hyundai Ioniq PHEV, which is about $25K but because it's part-electric comes with a $4.5K tax credit and a $2.5K state credit, plus a five-year warranty).
I realize this is a very broad question, but if anyone has any advice on how to approach this, I'd appreciate it.