I've had both. I only did about 45,000km on the '96 model, but I can honestly say it withstood the worst thrashing, cold weather, boiling hot weather, dirt roads and pouring rain without anything at all going wrong. The shock was adequate, had adjustable rebound damping and didn't sack out; same for the non-adjustable forks. Utterly dependable, except for the time the chain broke at 130km/h and trashed the chainguard and carrier and nearly did for the engine (hardly the bike's fault, methinks). The finish was better too.

Unlike my 2010 model, the engine stayed quiet, nothing was fragile or fell off except the fairing was a bit weak. But it was a very ordinary handler off-road. I feel that my current bike is far better off-road (especially with lots of loot spent on suspension and more to come), and it's definitely got more stick out of the box. It took a great deal of time and effort (exhaust, jetting, airbox mods) to get the old one up to 160km/h. I think the current model has as much go as my modified '96, has much better brakes, can go further on a tank of fuel on average (also has 3L more fuel) but is anecdotally prone to more failures than the old model. Both bikes have dismal high beams considering their design brief.

I bought my 2010 bike partly because of the '96 one. Overall, the new bike is a better design imo; I just wish it had been made in Japan like the old jigger.