Hunter, I don't fly the jungle jet....
In SA, there are 5 aircraft categories based on aircraft weight, with 3 pay scales, the E170 is CAT-B, same as the MD90 or Gulfstream. For obvious reasons crews flying these aircraft are paid less than a crew flying a B744 or B777. If a CAT-D crew member is requested to fly the CAT-B aircraft due to operational requirements, he will remain on his CAT-D salary, but will be removed from the fleet as soon as possible.
The aircraft is a commercial success, it did have entry into service problems (i.e maximum operating temperature), but these were solved. It isn't scheduled to be removed from service due to the fact that it actually makes money. You should be aware that there are a large number of Public Service Obligation routes in SA with light traffic loads, the E170 is ideal for these.
Cons, it does have problems on routes from hot/high/mountainous airports or operating into airports without fuel, but we knew this before we purchased them and these limitations were not sufficient to increase the aircraft size to an Airbus. (Note the subsequent Airbus purchase was to fulfill a different mission profile.)
Pros, the low ACN allows us to operate to taxiways
Why do you say it isn't suitable for GF kind of pax and operation ?
Mutt