Sorry I didn’t answer these earlier.
I would say that they are on a par with European sleepers in a lot of ways, but lag behind in a couple of areas.
I have seen European sleepers with better bedroom layouts for sure, ones that can sleep three each in their own bed, where the beds all come down from the wall. I think that might be the best layout I’ve seen yet for a full bedroom with en-suite.
The other thing that the European sleepers have over our new sleepers is the door. We still haven’t figured out in America how to make a sleeper door that closes from the outside, or that has a modern locking system.
From a temperature control standpoint, when it was on it seemed to work well. However - at some point in the trip both southbound and northbound they turned off the temperature controls completely.
That may have been a conscious decision on their part based on outside air temperatures. Frankly, we didn’t really need the temperature controls while they were off. So the jury is still out on that one.
Finally, in regards to what is better with the VLIIs vs the VLIs, 90% of it is just the newness. Let’s face it, the original Viewliners are tired – and need a complete overhaul. I do like the improvements made in the shower room on the new cars, and I’ll talk about the changes in the roomettes that I really like as well. But the overriding theme is that the original cars are desperate for a complete and utter overhaul.