I am unfortunate enough to have to commute by these trains, and I hate them.
Yes, they soak up passengers very effectively due to wide doors and lots of standing space, dwell times are low and the PIS is decent.
Now for the bad points:
- The seats give me backache in a matter of minutes. Even travelling from St Pancras to Blackfriars will give me backache. It's not the lack of padding, but the shape of the seats just doesn't agree with my back. I have no back problems with any others seats and I have no back issues in any other part of my life.
- The window seats have that massive heating duct, and unlike all other trains I've been on, the duct top is sloping not flat, so you can't rest your feet on it. Therefore, you have to encroach on the footwell of the neighbouring seat
- The aisle seats have reduced footroom too, because they decided to make the seat supports diagonal instead of vertical, presumably to make cleaning easier.
- There are no armrests. By backup plan for trains with no armrests is to use the windowsill as an armrest, but you can't on these as the window is too high. Failing that I use the tray table as an armrest, but not all seats on this stock have them.
The train might as well have zero seats as far as I'm concerned, because none of them are usable for me. I always stand for the entire journey, usually in the place where two carriages join, as that is the least busy place. I notice that quite a few people opt to stand for the entire journey too.
Since Covid, I've started driving into the City now at weekends, despite living near near East Croydon station. It is comfier and can be cheaper if you know where to park