Alien,
Congrats. I love the ergonomics of the R's better than any other SLR (small, med or large). To me it goes a long way toward making the camera very shootable. They are simply lovely machines.
I think Ralph hit on something that can be expanded on. There is a lovely balance between character and precision in the glass. If you also love the medium of film there is the added advantage of seeing the film in your enlargements as well. I know for some grain is evil, but for me it is a touchstone.
As an aside.
In my reading of this thread, no one said anything about any camera being better than another in the gross -- in the net and under specific circumstances any one camera might be the best ever.
John,
One thing I have learned with the maddness I call my hobby, different cameras/systems work for different people and their specific style. At this point I have a good cross section of the 1960's/1970's semi pro SLRs that matter in my collection/fleet and all have a different flavour. During the Spring/Summer I prefer my Pentax Screwmounts, fall/winter its my Nikons and Olympus OM-1. It's that subjective quality, I own a Leica M3 love shooting with it any time of year and at some point, if I can convince myself, yes I can support one more lens system a Leica R series would be really nice. It would have to be an R4 because an R8 or 9 would vapourise my finances.
Bill