An engineers perspective:
- IAE - do NOT trust the -A1 variant of the V2500, it a piece of
- IAE - the -A5 is much better, but not so mechanic friendly, lots of grazed knuckles and burnt elbows
- CFM - A much better creature, lasts forever, has very little in service issues
Just to pick up on some pilot comments on the EPR, if you're only issue is the guage then consider this, from an efficiency point of view (fuel burn/thrust) EPR/thrust relationship over time is much more accurate than N1/thrust, since it is based on pressures, not rotational speed.
The relationship of N1/thrust is only as accurate as the day the engine comes off the test-cell, and the N1 trim is set. When the fan track wears out, the airfoils get dirty and the blade l/e's erode etc the N1 speed is no longer related to the thrust it was in the test cell - therefore on a high time CFM engine you may be 2% down on thrust.
So please if you're issue is with the guage - ask the aircraft designers to make a bigger display!