From what I remember playing Rebel Squadron, TIE fighters were maneuverable, lightly armored and moderately fast.... I don't remember anything special about their firepower.
I would say TIE Fighters are Zeke's and TIE Interceptors are Spitfires 
Well, the TIE Fighters were supposed to be deadly to old junkers, such as the Koensayr Y-Wing, which was relatively slow yet had a powerful armament. The TIE fighters were manueverable and, having two fairly high powered lasers, though they did have a fairly limited power supply, made mincemeat of the Y-Wings. Thus, I vote the TIE fighter to be the Spitfire V due to it's lack of cannon ammo.
The TIE Interceptor however was faster, more heavily armed with four wingtip blaster cannons and two chin laser cannons, more manuverable thanks to the its new twin ion engines with advanced ion-stream projectors (think thrust vectoring), and a redesign of its solar panel array to provide more energy to power the new parts. Due to this, I vote for the Spitfire XIV to be the TIE interceptor, as it is just as flimsy as the other Spitfires.
Sidenote, the above is pretty much a shortened copy paste from Wookiepedia and the Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels, a book on Star Wars craft. Also, I'm going off of the movies' footage, as what happens in the movies is considered to be the ultimate truth among both Star Wars fans and Star Wars game developers, though the developers would like to create a game, rather than a slaughterfest.
Also, in Rogue Squadron, not only did they turn down the lethality of the enemy lasers as a gameplay mechanic, the X-Wing is sturdier than its size would suggest.
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