Thanks for the many replies.
Some of you get it and some of you really don't.
What we've gained in todays cars is far better passive safety than was once typical.
Between one of our old '86 Civic Wagons and our '12 Accord, I know which car I'd rather be driving were I to get into a collision.
OTOH, we've lost the light weight that brought really sharp handling and good fuel economy along with decent acceleration with small understessed engines.
We've accepted great complexity at the cost of easy and inexpensive long term repair and ownership.
WRT styling or design, there has been a significant reversion to a mean.
The days of a Ford looking quite distinct from a Chevy which was in turn nothing like a Dodge are long gone.
A Mercedes or BMW once looked unique and drove and endured in such a way that the high price seemed fair for what you got.
That hasn't been the case in years, as both marques trade upon their badges while neglecting the things that made them unique.
OTOH, it may be that they haven't much choice but to put their badges on glorified FWD econoboxes as well as use cheap supplier parts, since they must maintain and grow volume in an increasingly tough global market. Academics have noted for years that the production capacity available in the global industry greatly exceeds global sales. This is probably not as true as it was back in the eighties, with growing demand today coupled with shrinking capacity among the old established players, but the new players keep adding capacity, so there is probably still a glut of it.
Anyway, a fun thread.