Many thanks everyone for the helpful responses.
The 10 hours dual training requirement does feel excessive and may well put off these plans for now due to the expense, not to mention the fact that the last thing I want to do is go through another course of training immediately after getting the PPL. I'll have to see closer to the time.
A and C, my intention would be to practice as much hand flying as possible in addition to keeping my basic dead reckoning navigation skills sharp, but it would also be useful to gain experience with the various automated avionics, GPS etc. Not to mention making the experience more enjoyable. I don't intend to use the error prone dead reckoning method as my primary method after gaining my PPL (whether for private flying or possible commercial work). It would only be to maintain a good spatial awareness as opposed to slavishly relying on the GPS, in addition to redundancy reasons in case all else fails.
With regards to the door problem, even if it would not pose a major direct threat to the safety of the flight it would still be a deal breaker. One of the reasons being the expense of having to divert and land in order to fix the issue, before getting back to the original trip. If it is as regular a problem as it seems to be from various sources then it's probably enough to put me off.
3victorecho and Fuji abound mention that it is possible to avoid by making sure the door is properly latched, but how is this done exactly? However, even then sharpend mentions that it happens even when the door is properly closed?
Other than the Cirrus, are there any other similar SEPs that anyone can reccommend?