I picked the Soviet T34 series as my primary tank because as a tanker believe me crew comfort takes a back seat to mechanical reliability and ease of operation. The M1 was not designed for a lot of crew comfort either, but you learn to improvise and adjust.
Mechanical reliability? Have you looked at the problems the T-34 had? Take a look what happened to the 2 T-34s the Soviets gave the US Army to test. The Shermans tracks had twice the service life of the T-34s. Have you ever been in a T-34? The M1s crew comport is a limo compare T-34. Here's a deal go drive a T-34 from Kuwait city to Bagdad and see if you still feel that way.
Russian vets that drove both like the Sherman for it's strengths and understood its weakness.