I totally agree with you. For example, Toyota upgraded the Land Cruiser's taillights in 2006 to some pretty cool LED units. Then with the new 2008 generation, they did way with the neat LED taillights and went to a more plain design. Supposedly they still are LED, but they dont look like it and instead are of a simple design like what would be found on non-LED lights.
Another example is of the new 5-spoke 17 wheels on 2005 Camry SE's. They did way with them for the new 2007 generation, only to bring back a 5-spoke design again for the 2010 mid-life update. This was the same case with the new wheels on the Land Cruiser. The 2006-2007 model had way better wheels, then comes the next generation in 2008 and we see plain wheel designs again.
It irritates me that Toyota does this on new models, only to bring them back later on as mid-life updates.
Anyways, here are pics of a 2007 vs 2008 Land Cruiser. The older years you could see the LED's which from an appearance stand point look way better than the new ones which are so much more boring/plain.