Prius does not have a DCT gearbox. It is closer to a CVT. I've never heard of one failing.

All the more reason to go with the Prius if reliability is a concern. It'll hold its price better as well and is more of a known quantity.

Auris as suggested is also a good bet.

Thanks everyone.

Seems like my instincts are right that the Prius is probably the better bet. I wish I could up my budget to stretch to a lower mileage example but I don't think that will be possible. As someone else mentioned, yes I plan to keep the car for at least 4 years while I repay the loan and then probably sell it and use the residual towards financing my next car. If I get a 70000 mile Prius it will be approaching 150000 miles by the time I'm finished which is a bit of a scary number, but there are so many high mileage examples out there for sale that I guess I shouldn't worry too much. I'm test driving an Ionic tomorrow so I'll give it one more chance to see if I fall in love...

Actually, I'd say the Auris is the better bet. It has the same drivetrain and reliability as the Prius, but is no more expensive than the Ionic.

That is what I'd be looking at most closely.

As for the mileage?. No, you really don't need to be worrying about 150k on a car like that. I mentioned the Lexus CT200h as being another option with the same drivetrain, one of the first I noticed on Autotrader was a 2014 one owner example being sold privately with an asking price of £6395. Mileage?, 208k.

Do you actually need to go into the low emissions zone?

Yes several times a week, and I spend easily enough time sitting in traffic to justify a hybrid.

Having had a cat stolen from a Honda Jazz Mk1 there’s no way I’d have a Prius ( or a Auris ) which are both targeted by cat s******s.

Good point. But I suppose it depends on where/if the car would be parked in areas where theft might be a possibility?. Also, I believe there are various devices available to stop or prevent cat theft, surely some of them work?.

we replaced it with a 2018 Honda Jazz which we love, it’s a very underrated car.

Not by me. We had a 2017 Jazz EX CVT, brilliant car!.

Having had a cat stolen from a Honda Jazz Mk1 there’s no way I’d have a Prius ( or a Auris ) which are both targeted by cat s******s. Incidentally we replaced it with a 2018 Honda Jazz which we love, it’s a very underrated car.

It seems like this is mostly an issue affecting older hybrids as the cat is much harder to get to in newer models and the older ones are worth more anyway. Prius mk2 and mk3 are particularly targeted but I think mk4 and Ioniq less so. So it seems anyway. It's certainly a worry. I have gated off street parking at home and they wouldn't be able to get under my car, but out and about parking on the street it's always going to be a risk.