Here's a 1990 Honda Accord LX and its similarly-sized and optioned equivalent today: the 2010 Honda Civic DX-VP.
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1990 Honda Accord LX vs. 2010 Honda Civic DX-VP
Accord Civic
Length (in) 185.2 177.3
Width (in) 67.1 69.0
Height (in) 54.7 56.5
Curb weight (lbs) 2733 2687
Cargo volume (cu. ft) 14.4 12.0
Front headroom (in) 38.9 39.4
Front legroom (in) 42.6 42.2
Rear headroom (in) 37.5 37.4
Rear legroom (in) 34.3 34.6
Horsepower/torque 125/137 140/128
EPA city/hwy 21/27 26/34
The Civic and Accord are pretty much a dead heat in terms of legroom, headroom and power. (The Accord has a slight edge on trunk space.) The Civic has the following safety equipment not found in the older Accord: dual front airbags, front side airbags, side curtain airbags, active head restraints, ABS (optional on the Accord), TPMS and side door beams. Yet it manages to come in at about 50 pounds lighter than the Accord and gets about 25% better mileage.
BTW, the MSRP for the '90 Accord LX, $14,895, is about $24k in 2008 dollars, so the cars are better and cheaper than they used to be. (The 2010 Civic DX-VP's MSRP is $16,405.)