I have a direct comparison between an old w203 and (still not that new anymore) w204 and the difference is very noticeable.
W203 is not sporty by any means but just has this kind of “weight” to it but I’d not consider it to be “heavy”.
W204 by comparison feels totally effortless, to the extent that I wonder if power steering works correctly in both cars.
As for the journalism, I find car reviews often flawed in terms of what I as a buyer would expect from a car - they focus too much on cars being “sporty” imho. I won’t even mention that so often top of the line models are reviewed while they most likely are only a fraction of sold cars and the experience may be totally different.
A lot of DRL comments here so I have a question, why DRLs are so popular? what is the deal with them?
I’d assume even in old cars with “standard” bulbs cost of keeping lights on all the time is negligible when compared to the total costs of having a car and maintaining it…