Nick,
I guess it all boils down to the question, do you want an evolutionary design or a revolutionary design? Grandfathering is not all bad, look at the 737. It is grandfathered up to the hilt but still a very effective and safe design.
As we all agree it is the client who will chose, not the operators. I wonder if they will do their homework?
I think lumping the EC 225 in with the S61 is a bit disingenuous. The EC 225's cabin is based on an old design, but the engines, drive train, rotors, avionics & AP are to the latest standard. Even if some parts of the EC 225 are grandfathered from the AS 332L2, decades separate the S61 and L2.
What we need is EC to provide an official spokesman and then you and their representative could wrestle in cyberspace!
How do you find time to do your day job as you seem to be fighting on several fronts (threads) and thats only on pprune!
g33