Thank you all for taking the time to respond. Lots of good information here, and some recommendations I hadn't thought of.
She only has about 20 miles round trip to work, and doesn't do a ton of driving outside of that. I have a 2015 Honda Civic, which we drive anytime we go out of town, or in town for that matter. lol. But I'm a junkie for good mileage, low maintenance vehicles with solid reputations for lasting. So I'd like to get her one as well, but with a hatchback for the times we do need the extra cargo space.
I had peeked around at the Mazda 3, but it's getting quite a few recommendations, so it looks like I need to look more at those. I wondered about the Hyundai's. I think I've always unfairly dismissed them as lower quality Honda/Toyota wanna-be's. But it sounds like those who have owned them have been super happy with them, so that's much better than my uninformed judgement.
I'm also looking at the Subaru Impreza after it was mentioned. We live in Michigan, so the thought of having an AWD vehicle to use in the snow while still getting great MPG at all other times is enticing, though might mean needing to step up in price.
Given the situation, I'd really look hard at a hybrid, PHEV or even full EV like a Leaf. What about a Ford CMax? They're a hatchback hybrid. The standard hybrid gets Prius-like fuel economy. There's a PHEV version that could probably complete most of your driving tasks without using any fuel at all, but still gets hybrid fuel economy if yo need to take it on a longer drive so there's no 'range anxiety' like a full EV. They're WAY cheaper to buy than a similar Prius. IF you opt for the plug-in version, it will probably have extremely low running costs and need the absolute minimum of maintenance too.
I've got the same PHEV powertrain in my Fusion. I plug in every night. I have a commute that's 20 miles each way. It had a lifetime fuel economy of 43mpg when I bought it and in the 23k miles that I've added, I've been able to drag that economy up to 89.9mpg and climbing. Because a bit more than half of my driving is electric, the only maintenance that I've needed in those 23k miles is a single oil change, regen braking should really extend the life of the manual brakes, there is no starter to need replacement, etc.
They're based on the Focus platform which scares some people off, but the problematic Focus transmissions are very different from the CVTs offered in the Ford hybrids (which are nearly identical to what's in the Prius, and was actually licensed tech from Toyota in the beginning). The hybrid components are all warrantied for 10yrs/100k miles too.
The larger hybrid battery does reduce cargo volume, so if you need maximum cargo capacity, they might not work, but if you want a commuter that's cheap to buy
and cheap to drive/own, with the occasional need for cargo moving, I think they're worth a close look.
NYC did a pretty revealing study on their fleet maintenance costs that shows just how much a hybrid/PHEV/EV vehicle can save in maintenance costs over a more traditional ICE. Compare the gas Fusion, hybrid Fusion and PHEV (Energi) Fusion costs, or the Focus/Focus Electric disparity:
https://www.axios.com/electric-vehicle-maintenance-newyorkcity-fb1c2704-14dd-4026-a0d1-0d82f5bc6d19.html