Welcome Oldcol. I was in very much your position in terms of researching and wanting an approaching-retirement treat. Different in that I was always going to buy a nearly-new (a car pre-registered by the dealership to make up their sales numbers), not a brand new.
Purely subjectively, I decided against an Inscription because I personally dislike the look of the chrome trim and I'd rather not have leather seats.
The 'nubuck' seats of the R-Design look good and feel good to me.
There was a WhatCar review of the XC40 where they said the R-Design had a slightly firmer ride, but was considerably less floppy (all tall cars wallow a bit on cornering).
That's the trim sorted, now to the engine...
Buying nearly-new, there was almost no difference between T4 and T5 AWD... so have the later. Put it into Sports and floor it and the T5 goes like stink. Otherwise it is refined and well-behaved and conceales it's ample horsepower.
I had been a lifelong 'manual' driver before the XC40, but there are a lot of really nice features that only work with auto.
The best feature of the car for me is the (rather expensive option) Adaptive Cruise Control. Press a button and it locks on to the car in front and matches speed and distance.
Next best feature Blind Spot Information... your door mirrors light up to warn you if a car is either in your blind-spot, or approaching fast.
No doubt other makes do similar, but I am hugely impressed by these features.
