What I found is guys who have seen much of the 1st gens do like the styling of the 1st gens more, but quite the opposite if they are looking at both for the first time. This is at least from my experience.
The other factor I think that comes to play is do you see more
stock 2nd gens or 1st gens? 1st gens moded look awesome and I see many more moded 1st gens. Put a moded 1st gen next to Hollywood's modded 2nd gen, that would be more of an even comparison when asked about styling comparisons. That's why us 2nd gens are just dieing for more mods to catch with the 1st gens!