You are in New England and the closest Juki dealer is 3 hours away?? Wow you must be in the extreme northern area of Maine. I was going to suggest going to the Quilters Gathering show in Manchester NH in November or the MQX show in April but that is probably too far as well. The Bernina 700 series are in the same price range as the Janome you mentioned. At least the ones I just saw at a recent show were. I definitely would not buy a machine without trying it out and for $3K I would want it to have ALL the features I needed and wanted. I think I would drive the 3 hours to try out the Juki.
PS welcome to the QB