Actually, kind of a culmination of things. Suspensions and shocks have had a lot of refinement over the last 30 years. As such, you can expect better handling from a new car than an old one. Jack up the front end of a newer car next to an older one sometime. Youll find different angles on shocks, springs, trailing arms and the ever-important stabilizer bar. If you update the springs and shocks on an older car though, often you can get a better ride. Or, retro-fit an IFS from a newer car and just Say its stock!