These are my personal thoughts on some of the trains used in the UK on the National Rail network. These are from the perspective of an able-bodied person who happens to be 6'2" (so if I'm not complaining about the height or legroom or something, it's probably adequate).
Class 158 Express Sprinter (Transport for Wales)
- Comfortable! Good seats and a relatively spacious cabin
- Lots of engine noise and some vibration inside
- Head-hittingly low vestibules
Class 170 Turbostar (CrossCountry)
- Good seats!
- Can get very, very overcrowded (who on earth thought it was a good idea to put a single 2-car on Cardiff to Nottingham)
- Amusingly large amounts of vibration on acceleration when they kick into top gear
- Relatively quiet inside the cabin
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Class 172 Turbostar (West Midlands Railway)
- Trim and proper trains
- Note that this doesn't apply to the unrefurbished ex-Chiltern /1 sets - they suck.
- Very well refurbished, a lot brighter and airier than similar CrossCountry trains
- Pretty quiet cabin
Class 196 Civity (West Midlands Railway)
- Exceptionally striking and modern looks with a very well-suited livery
- Is whisper quiet inside the cabin, and not exactly very noisy outside
- Squeaky brakes
- Has the typical rough CAF ride quality
- Seats are ergonomic but very hard and noticeably close together
- Also: armrests??
- Shockingly good PA system though
Class 220 Voyager (CrossCountry)
- Both good and not so good
- Very comfortable seats, though legroom could be a squeak better
- Have a good ride and sound nice
- The profile designed to allow tilting operation makes them feel cramped and they have a tendency to overcrowd because of their route allocations
- The crampiness tends to be worse when travelling on them at night because of the way the lighting is inside
- They make the platforms at New Street unpleasant to wait on with their fumes ._.
- I hit my head on the vestibule ceilings
Class 221 Super Voyager (CrossCountry, Avanti West Coast)
- Functionally very similar (if not identical) to the 220s
- @avanti thank you for having proper bike storage areas
Class 222 Meridian (East Midlands Railway)
- Run down and generally not very clean
- Better than the 220/221 sets but still not incredible
Class 323 (West Midlands Railway)
- These sound phenomenal
- Old, and not exceptionally comfortable
- The PA speakers are entertainingly crusty sounding and the conductor's announcements are garbled beyond recognition 80% of the time
- Cabin is drab
- Their replacement with 730s is well due but will be sad to see them go
Class 350 Desiro (London Northwestern Railway)
- Decent trains
- Generally pretty comfortable (provided you don't get a 350/2)
- Refurbished units are typically very nice and are comfortable for the services they operate
- Legroom š
- PLEASE GET SOME PROPER BIKE SPACES. PLEASE.
Class 360 Desiro (East Midlands Railway)
- Less decent trains - pretty much just a worse version of the class 350
- The 3+2 seating needs to go, and fast please
- The seats are also worn out and uncomfortable
- No end gangways but they often work in pairs
- Looks good in the EMR colours
Class 390 Pendolino (Avanti West Coast)
- It's fast!
- Very smooth ride except for when it inexplicably judders forwards and back, which is somewhat frequently
- The tilt works and is very, very novel when you first experience it
- While the seats are very solid, they're also very comfortable - though you can see why they're gradually refurbishing these
- The doors take a comically long time to open and close
Class 700 Desiro City (Thameslink)
- Inside these units are moden, bright and airy and generally quite pleasant to be inside of
- Exterior looks are pretty nice
- Self-driving in the Thameslink core section, which is very cool
- The ironing boards seats suck though
Class 745 FLiRT (Greater Anglia)
- I like these trains
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The interior ambiance is really well done - the colour scheme and lighting come together to create a really pleasant and comfortable atomsphere.
- The whisper quiet and exceptionally smooth ride helps with this too
- There's plenty of luggage space (which is good, because these run the Stansted Express et al)
- I adore the level boarding system, plus the funky Jacobs bogies are fun
- Large, clear and crisp passenger information displays
- The same supportive seating as the WMR 196s, except with armrests, seatback tables and a better pitch
- Also has good looks outside
