Ride is *much* firmer, but that might also be because i had a worn shock at the rear. However, I can say that while handling has improved immensely (I can now chuck the car into corners with confidence), the ride quality has suffered a lot - it is hard and you can feel every bump, even on the concrete highway. The springy seats help dampen that a lot, but there are more rattles in the car. Still, it beats driving around with torn bushes. Turning circle has almost halved!! I'm totally caught out by how it seems to "oversteer" now - it's really strange.
To be honest, I don't understand how bushes can make such a difference, since they aren't like shocks that have plenty of travel. Also, it's not like the new bushes are hard - they are called "hyper flex" and they harp on about how it can flex more than the original bushes (which means they are softer??) without loosing their shape.
Overall my verdict is that it's a drastic improvement. I might take my car to Zwartkops and try to prove this with lap times at some point in future.