Let's compare like with like. The order for the three Class 230 units now in service was announced in October 2017 ....so less than 2 years from order to service. The CAF units for Northern were ordered a year earlier (according to your statement) and are still not carrying passengers.
However the 230 program started back in late 2014, some three years earlier and had been previously rejected for the Nuneaton route because the originally built test unit had serious engine issues. So I'm afraid you are not even close to comparing like for like.
Let me be clear on my thoughts again. We (as in the travelling public) need trains that not only suit our railway network, but how our railways are run. With a privatised, medium term franchised set up units should be built to suit a multitude of routes, and a multitude of operating parameters. That is the thinking behind the CAF & Hitachi orders, large numbers of similar type units that can & doubtless will be used across large parts of our network over their lifespans. Lots of small, unique concepts like the 230s are not going to suit the industry in the long term. They are being used as a quick (although nearly 5 years cannot be considered quick) stopgap solution by the two operators that have so far ordered a whopping 8 of the units. Even Vivarail at this point will have realised that they are not going to be shipping dozens of these out anytime soon, hence their concentrating more on different engine designs which they doubtless hope to either sell directly or as a concept.
Now I know that it is considered almost heresy to even dare criticise the 230, as this unit has been giving the RUK seal of approval, but I'm not afraid to stand alone with my thoughts. The railway network isn't run for railway enthusiasts to try out a myriad of different unit and traction types, it is run to get people from one place to the next, and rightly or wrongly to make the companies operating them profits. And in today's world that doesn't mean lots of micro orders of different types of units that all require both crew and mechanical knowledge, it means large orders of similar units much in the way the airline industry works. Many here won't agree, and that's fine, but it is the reality. Time will tell, but I strongly suspect that the 230s, and indeed the 769s won't be seeing very long lifespans.