tarjet- sounds like you have never flown it either. I haven't been AOG in more than a year. User friendly? It's OLD! No more or less user friendly than any other four-engine jet of its' era.
From my base, we operate to four destinations this summer and they are all Cat C, so the answer is that we need the performance of the 146 ALL THE TIME!
It intercepts the ILS fine at normal speeds and angles, it only makes a mess of it if you let the autopilot intercept at 250kts and 5 miles or less (something your average Boeing pilot couldn't even attempt).
Hogg - not sure why I am wasting my time, but anyway... you can measure Mach at any altitude. It is more useful in the higher levels. Why do you think that ATC ask us for Mach numbers at our cruise levels? Because it makes their job easier! We cruise at M0.70 or thereabouts- unless of course you are now going to claim that our Mach meters are strangely innacurate..
Don't worry, PPRuNe stuff never gets to me, if I took it seriously I'd be a nervous wreck...