Vanilla Win8 is faster in many operations (not all) and has more features than vanilla Win7. This is an undisputable fact.
Whatever features are lost in Win8 are another discussion. I haven't found missing features so far in Win8 that I would have missed, except the start menu. After I discovered the right click menu I stoped missing the start menu, too.
I have yet to find anything Windows 8 is faster at. Care to give me an example? I will be happy to test it. Just keep in mind, I am going to use my system to test with. You claim it is not apples to apples. What I have tweaked in my system does absolutely nothing to alter the functionality of the operating system. You are not privy to the exact details, which makes you unqualified to make a determination as to how my system compares to a stock Windows 7 system or to a Windows 8 system.
For the record, all I did was exactly what Microsoft did to Windows 8.
I have never said Windows 8 does not have more features than Windows 7. For example, Windows 8 allows Microsoft to control what you have installed on your computer. Windows 7 does not. Windows 8 does drop some features as well.
As an example, do you like the default "Control Panel" layout of Windows 8? If you do than you will not miss the fact you cannot have Windows 8 remember the setting you chose for it. That same thing plays out all over the place in Windows 8.
EDIT: I really do not care if you doubt how fast my system boots. It does not make it untrue. When I first installed Windows 8, I was so disappointed at how slow it booted compared to my old Windows XP box. My Windows 7 box is slightly slower than my old XP box, but palatable at 8-9 seconds (measured from the time the BIOS init is done to the time I get the login prompt).