Finally caught up with the set today whilst out travelling with a friend
First impressions were pretty good - very odd gliding through some of my local stations in something quieter than a 185!
We presumed the reservation system wasn’t functional as there were paper tickets in various seatbacks, but we were in coach C which had nothing, presumably unreserved
Seat/window alignment is poor, as has been mentioned before. Ride in the middle of the coach is fine but over the bogies is very bouncy, found when I went for a wander to find the facilities (speaking of which the sink water was initially just constantly running in the one I used and the toilet flush button just got stuck flashing after depositing its water but wasn’t clearing the pan - goodness knows why!). It also seems these trains buck the trend of seemingly manually locks on the non-accessible facilities as this one has an electronic one. Slightly odd single seat at one end of the coach too but with two tray tables in front!
I don’t get the obsession now with having the power sockets under the seats (common to lots of new stock including 385’s and the Azuma) as they are hard to locate - another passenger was overheard saying they were disappointed with the lack of power. The aforementioned units have stickers pointing out the power sockets but they are not on the Mk5 (to be honest, the stickers are a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist, but I digress)
I’m not sure what happened to the set as we arrived at Huddersfield p1 from Leeds only a couple of mins down, but was on a red. The Picc stopper then went out as did an Airport which was routed round through Hudd p4 before the 68 went, about 10L (I saw it was 17L by Stalybridge)
The 68 sounded wonderful as it pulled out of Huddersfield!
Look forward to getting a longer run on one in due course to get a better idea of comfort of the seats (the headrests are pretty solid, 15 mins isn’t much time to get a feel for much else really).
One thing I am sure of is that the leadings on the train would have been more cosy on a 185 whilst the Mk 5 had plenty space so the longer sets will undoubtedly be welcomed by passengers