The F-14 Tomcat is still the baddest fighter plane currently in the air. The F-18 Hornet is a fuel hog, has no on station time to speak of, and has a worthless payload, on top of being a maintenance nightmare.
A-6 may have been a bit slow, but it could fly in any weather, a capability that would have been valuable early on in Iraq and Afganistan.
Unfair on the maintanence. The Hornet is worlds better then the Cat in that regard. It just cant do much else that has not been done better by some other jet.