Our expectations sure change over the years, as technology advances. I used to think my Austin Healey 3000 handled terrific and certainly had more power than those MG's I was used to.
Vette's were never a consideration for myself, just wasn't inspired by them.
XKE's were cool, but again, compared to today's stuff, they aren't all that. The search for a decent combination of handling AND power, I went through a bunch of cars searching for that, ended with the Cobra. I'm a happy camper.