That said I had a some compensation episodes later, e.g. when I first discovered Vanilla Coke in a winding 7-11 in Hong Kong - I remember this beverage to be almost overwhelmingly sweet.
It is overwhelmingly sweet no doubt about it. I could not drink two sips of it and I am a Coca-Cola drinker.
Try it! And report back with your opine.
edit: I know, Pepsi isn't a "generic brand cola", just saying, Coke isn't usually rated the best.
Many years ago, back when I was working my way thru high school, my father was a shop manager at a manufacturing plant. One of the perks he had, was deciding what went in the drink cooler. He swore (all day and half the night) that the small bottles of Coke (8 oz or 6 oz) had a better flavor than the larger bottles of Coke did (which were either 12 oz or 16 oz). So, he made sure that there were always 2 rows stocked with the small bottles.
This is from the days when all the bottles were returnable.
As an adult I've found the only relevant things for colas. Coke goes great with white rums and Pepsi goes great with spice rums. Beyond that I'll drink either whenever.
I'm not a fan of Pepsi at all, in a similar way to how I don't like any of the diet colas - the sweetness is too much, and it being flat only hurts it further, removing some of the carbonic acid.
All very well for Coke to say "If you did this, your results would change"... Where's the data?
I'm also firmly Pepsi, just prefer sugar.
Pepsi is its own brand unto itself, and in fact turned down an offer of Coca-Cola trade secrets before[1].