What is the difference really, all russian tanks are current or future monuments for dead russian soldiers, I don’t see that changing any time soon. They might as well make the metaphor literal right?

No, I would take a semi-upgraded Leopard 1 over any russian tank old or brand new. Easy, hands down it is a night and day difference unless we are talking about heavily modified export T-72s that foreign powers addressed critical flaws in that russians never bothered to fix themselves.

A Leopard 1 without heavy armor upgrades is essentially a tank destroyer, which is not ideal as a genuine main battle tank is usually a better investment but a Leopard 1 still very useful. A T-62 or T-64 is a nearly useless dinosaur in comparison, I wouldn’t go anywhere near war in either tank they are obsolete deathtraps.

Russians don’t know how to make a balanced useful main battle tank, Germany unarguably does and has since WW2.

Comparing the fire control systems on a Leopard 1 and a T-62/T-64 is like comparing a stone age axe to a modern axe. Yeah, they are both big heavy dangerous axes but…

edit actually some of the earliest model Leopards do have really shitty armor, so I guess I do have to qualify this, I would take almost any Leopard over a russian tank new or old.