There isn't a major difference in output between the two.
The 95-96 use parabolic reflectors and fluted lenses to give a beam pattern. The 97-99 have multifaceted reflectors and clear lenses to make a pretty similar beam pattern.
The 9004 bulbs in them aren't that great to begin with. Dual-filament bulbs by nature tend to be inferior to a comparable dual-bulb setup, because you have less reflector space to use for each filament.
Not to mention, the 9004 is a weak bulb anyway. At 12.8v nominal, it's got a 700 lumen 45w lowbeam, and a 1200 lumen 65w high beam. There isn't much light to play around with.
Optical technology is advancing very fast. There's a reason that 9004s went out of use in the late 90s, early 2000s - they're just not very good bulbs. We've seen H9/H11 become pretty popular, and multifaceted reflectors and projectors becoming popular too. Many midsize sedans have moved up to H11 projectors, which are significantly better lighting than the dual-filament lens-optics reflectors.
Of course, the US auto lighting regulations are far behind ECE standards. I am very disappointed with red turn signals, especially small ones. I think that cars with red turn signals should be required to have all the red lamps on that side of the vehicle flash when signalling, not just one. You see that with a lot of Hondas - they'll have big red tail lights, with a tiny red turn signal wedged under it. It's very easy to not notice a small blinking red light when it's surrounded by much larger steady red lights. I like my amber turn signals.
At the Maxima show, I saw some really dumbass lighting setups. I saw one guy with every light on his car being clear. White turn signals, white brake lights. It was beyond stupid.
Many had white rear clearance lights, which I thought were stupid. The rear clearance lights are a little 194 red light at the corner of the tail lights, and most guys had clear bulbs in them, so it looked like they had their reverse lights on.
Plenty had blue reverse lights, which is dumb.
Lots had Plug-and-Play LED bulbs. Dumb fucking idea. The LEDs all point the same way, so they'll have this big brake light or turn signal, and only a disk about the size of a quarter lights up, the rest is always dark, because none are shining at the reflector. I like LED lights, but do it right and use a circuit board with a large array of them, not a $15 ebay bulb.
I'm happy with the lighting on my car. I have large red tail lights, conspicuous amber turn signals in the rear, projector halogen high beams, projector xenon low beams, amber front parking lights adjacent to the headlights, and very large amber front turn signals separate from the headlights. My front turn signals are about 18" long, 2" high, and wrap around the front of the car. Far superior than those cars that just use a 2" round reflector as the only front turn signal.
