You can experience for yourself exactly what a "worse car" is today: buy an American car from the late 70s to the mid eighties. The big 3 still hadn't accepted

You can experience for yourself exactly what a "worse car" is today: buy an American car from the late 70s to the mid eighties. The big 3 still hadn't accepted that foreign competitors were a serious threat, and were churning out absolute garbage. Granted, there were other structural problems, but a big factor in the poor quality was the manufacturers feeling comfortable in their position and not feeling threatened.