Wide Angle, In camera Panaroma photos

Hi, I am a hobbyist photographer. Mostly photos on vacation and of events and social gatherings.  I recently purchased the SZ7 and I love its compact size, in camera panorama and the wide angle lens.  I noticed it struggled in overcast conditions.  The backgrounds tended to be overexposed and blown out and it would focus OK on subjects in the foreground.  It seems to not perform as well as my old DMC-FX75 in overcast conditions.  I also did not like how the HDR feature only kicks in when Intelligent Auto determines it is needed. (There is no scene mode for HDR that you can set).  So I am considering the ZS15 (for $60 more) because it has the HDR scene mode. BUT it is a lot bulkier.  I am not sure if it will also continue to struggle in outdoor, daylight overcast conditions.  Thoughts on how the two models stack up? Zoom is not too important for me.