NYP-WAS, was supposed to be on the 3 pm regular Acela on Sunday -- but got a notification of a seat change the evening before, and I realized that the trainset was changed to a NextGen Acela. At first, I was looking forward to my first ride on the Next Gen. However, the rain was delayed 45 minutes at Providence for mechanical work, so it was closer to 4 pm when the train left NYP. (I should have switched to the 3 pm NE Regional, which arrived in WAS long before the Acela did)

Seats were noticeably less comfortable than the regular Acela -- not so much because they were too firm (as others have noted) but because the seat base seemed to be shorter than the regular Acela! In other words, when sitting down, it only went under about half my thigh, instead of extending further to the knee. And I am only 6 feet tall, so someone at 6-6 or taller would be even more uncomfortable! Reclining the seat doesn't help as the base is still the same size.

The seat pitch did seem to be a few inches more, and there was definitely more leg room under the seat in front without the cumbersome seat-rotation gear in the regular Acela, so those were positives.

The window shades could be a problem as they are shared with 2 rows, so if one person wants the shade up to admire the scenery, and the other person wants it down, I don't see how that gets resolved!

The seat length issue is definitely a problem, as I was still stiff the next morning. Any suggestions for mitigating this, other than avoiding booking on the Next Gen Avela?