I think too that 3.0.16 is not a real stable release, 3.0.14 is more stable and 3.0.12 was even better.
But of course new release add new feature but give other bugs in some template for eg.
I tried to update a site running 3.0.9.4, but have to difer it because internal VM changes because in some case we had to extend VM functionnality and now it's not working anymore in 3.0.16.
So if you do a new site and need php7, use 3.0.16 else 3.0.14 can work using the lindapowers link for mail very well.