It has been a long time since I flew a Cessna, but I am pretty certain they use a rubber bungee to interconnect the rudder to the ailerons. This allows people who have no concept of how to use a rudder to get some rudder during aileron input. The bungee is overridable by guys with proper experience.

I would guess: older airplanes--the bungee is stretched, and soft. Newer airplanes: still pretty stiff.

Couple that with tight control cables (not stretched yet), and yes, the new airplane could feel different---heavier.