The reviews of the EV3 have been unanimously positive on how it drives, so I am not really worried on that score as my wife’s car.
I would prefer 4wd (EV3 is only fwd) but all season tyres would be more useful anyway I suspect.
The real point of a test drive for us in this case is to ensure that a vehicle doesn’t exacerbate my wife’s sciatica - I agree a day or two is preferable than a few minutes. I think we might revert to a tape measure to compare the lift from floor to seat base in her current car to compare with others