Hi Dobbo
After 4 VW cars from MB I’m switching away to the Kuga FHEW ST-Line X myself as its a fully feature car with a reasonably AP so hope to order one at the end of this month, my lease finish 3 weeks after yours. VW have just become too expensive for what you get.
On the AP’s, I’ve never paid it before collection but before entering the PIN on the day, although I did pay upfront for an extra I added to my current car that I thought was fair enough.