Coke has not changed as far as I know.
The New Coke was a disaster, wasn’t it?
I was just too angry with Coke to continue drinking, would have choked on each swallow, so I forced myself to switch to Pepsi.
It took a while to get used to and now I ask for it when dining out, if they only have Coke, I drink water.
New Coke was a ruse, to replace sugar with High Fructose Corn Syrup. People were just so happy to have something that tasted sort of like "Classic" Coke again, they didn't notice the switch.
I drank Royal Crown Cola until they brought back Coke Classic. That Coke thing was being taught in marketing classes as a fiasco.
But I like Dr. Pepper the best.