I'm a big fan of Pfaff and have the 4.0 and Performance 5. I bought a Passport for class, but missed the auto-pivot so much (I do a lot of machine appliqué. Plus I'm thoroughly spoilt now, lol.) I sold it and bought the 5 and leave the 4 in class.
You should be able to get the Pfaff Passport for £399. It has the IDT and needle up/down but no auto thread cutter. You can buy an extension table which handily attaches to the hard cover for travelling.
For piecing, I nearly always use a straight-stitch plate. One of the downfalls of the new wider stitch machines is that they tend to 'eat' fabric. Happy quilting.