Guess most of you are from the US. It's way different in Western Europe (and in my case Belgium). BMW & Audi are standard and seen every 10 seconds. 1 on 3 has a company car in Belgium. VW, BMW & Audi being in the top leased cars, so ... I look different towards cars.
First of all, I would NEVER drive a Prius. Nice to think about the environment, but there are other ways of doing it. It's a shit car... drives bad and offers no quality and especially lacks style. I would rather go for a small & cheap car...
I love a good car, enjoy its engine, its interior, the options & being able to go wherever I want in all comfort. I did up to 100k km/year in the past (now just 25k something as I live in different places around the world).
I had 3 BMW's, 1 Audi and 2 sport cars. They are/where all great cars to drive in. The BMW's & Audi where bought new, the others with 1-2 years & under 25000km. The only car I had some issues with is my current. Never had any problems with the BMW's or Audi. They are the top brands in the world, not only in comfort & looks, but especially in engine quality. So I could highly recommend them.
In between that I had about all imaginable cars under my ass renting them while on business, holidays, ...
I do have good experiences with small cars to, such as VW Golf, Audi A3 (new, not the previous), A4, Opel Astra (new model), BMW1,... It all comes down to your budget vs the quality you want & the time you'll spend driving in it. I personally don't mind spending +100k $ for a car. But I would NEVER spend that kind of money if I had to go to the bank for it, or would stop/limit my travels, parties, living quality,...
I also never spend much money on a car while I'm in Brazil. I used to drive a 5y old car over here giving me a nice relaxed feeling: if they steal it; have fun! - if it brakes down; I just cross the street & buy another one. Also works like a charm when some stupid cop threatens you to tow your car if you don't pay something... go ahead my friend
If 30k $ is the budget you have, focus on a 2y something old car, with around 20-30k km millage for basic cars. Don't start with an old Lexus, Jaguar,... because they already look terribly old fashion now - imagine in 5 years... + you place yourself in a "trying to be" position. "Trying to be" is always wrong. They'll also cost more to maintain. But never buy 100% new. They loose lots of value just by driving them out of the garage.