There is no comparison, the old trucks even the magnum ones were slugs. The newer stuff doesn't feel as fast in comparison but look at 1/4 mile performance among other things. You take a mid 80s truck and drag race it and you will need a calendar to track the pass, the magnum trucks were a little better but still slugs. Even the first 5.7 hemi trucks would wipe the floor with the old stuff.

That's all personal experience i'm not going to find data on the old trucks because no one had time for those things to finish making a pass!

And about the noises, yeah they suck but its common for some reason these days. We have newer Ford and Chevrolet vehicles in our fleet at work and on a cold winter morning its taps and rattles everywhere. However they sound like crap new and don't sound any worse with 200,000 on them. My 08 Hemi ram sounded rough when cold but ran perfect.