Design is a matter of personal taste, I think. I own all the Sunstreaker MPs and I just got the Skidses. SS is interesting, but, IMO, way over-designed. Far too complex for my tastes. And I just don't like the extreme cartoon look. Skids is near-perfection, both in aesthetic and transformation. Very limited use of faux parts. Faux parts is a huge turn off for me. I've just spent a LOT of time transforming three Sunstreakers (see my pics in the Pictures thread), and two Skids. I don't get what you mean about quality. They're both equally high-quality toys as far as I can tell. (Well, I did break a door off of Sunstreaker. We'll see how well Skids holds up in the years to come.)
My heart longs for the days of Sideswipe and the Datsuns. My wallet is grateful for cartoon accuracy. Trailbreaker executes an impressive, cartoon accurate, collector-level toy. I just happen to hate his animation model. Just not my flavor. Oh well! We all like different stuff.