I don't claim to be an expert on instruments, but have been through the buying process quite a few times. I can't advise you as such (your money, your decision, etc), but can only say how I have felt when faced with this situation.

Personnally, I look at it as buying the whole package (comfort, feel, playability, sound, etc). If there's one area that does not impress me, I won't buy. It seems to me that the best you are hoping for from this instrument, is that new strings and age will make the sound adequate, rather than good. Is that enough? I would want to buy an instrument that sounded good from the outset. Yes, I would experiment with different strings to try to improve that sound, but I would need to be happier with the starting point than you seem to be. I don't feel that reaching the tough chords would be compensation if I didn't like the sound they made.

I understand the frustration of playing a lot of 'nearly' guitars before finding what I really wanted, but felt it was worth the wait. I will also add I didn't have the added complication of looking for a 'leftie'.

As I said at the outset, I can only give my opinion, the decision is yours.

Good luck,

Brian