I don't think I can help with your decision, but one of my friends came to mind when I read your post. She bought a Pfaff which did embroidery and within 4 months upgraded to another Pfaff that did more embroidery. She isn't a close friend, so I don't know the details of her machines, but I thought the fact that she upgraded so soon might be useful? Every quilter is different, so now I "am thinking" this might be worthless information? The shop (where I bought my non-embroidery Pfaff, allows customers to upgrade with sort of a trade in thing like car dealerships do.)
I think the advice about being comfortable with your dealer is a good one. Classes accompanied both my machine and my friend's, plus free machine cleaning for 3 years.