My experience is that of a supervisor, forklift operator for 34 years, truck driver-transporter and forklift certification instructor. We currently have 30 8 series and an assortment of yales, komatsus and hysters. The newer yales are awkward to operate the controls, (slow response), the older rentals we get don't like cold weather.
The komatsus are lemons like the color, and broken down regularly.
The consensus of our experienced operators is the 8 series is popular because it has good visibility, smooth ride even with solid tires, clutch/brake spring pressure is lighter than most, seatbelt alows twisting to look in reverse, controls are sensitive. Our in-house units are spec'd out with a narrower wheel width than most rentals so they can go in tighter spaces.