Leasing a car - Is it worth it?

My wife and I recently bought a used Mazda cx-3 6 months ago. She hit a deer and totaled the car. There is really nothing she could've done and so we are moving forward from the situation as sad as it is.

That said, we don't have a lot of money to spare to just dump into even a 15k Mazda of some sort. I also do not want to get her a worse car than she had. We have been thinking about finding a very very cheap lease on a good car ($200-$300 a month) with a 2 year lease overall. I have never done this, nor do I know anything about leasing.

A lot of people say it's good against depreciation, but I look at it as having a good car over a longer period of time without buying said car for more than we're leasing it for. Yes, we wouldn't own it, but it is possibly worth it to look into another lease after that 2 years. What are the downsides? What happens if you theoretically wreck the vehicle? What is a decent amount of maximum mileage we should be looking at that an average driver would be comfortable with? What are some car brands to stay away from, and which ones are worth it?

Thanks for all your help!