Some people disregard the T-72 as a com-block garbage can. Others welcome it as the second coming of a non-descript deity. I believe the answer lies somewhere in between. Crew ergonomics and survivability are heavily criticized parts of the vehicles (see Russian Turret Ejection system as witnessed in Ukraine). While these are undeniable issues, I will defend the T-72 as it was during its prime years. I will not argue for its usage today- I feel it is clearly an evolutionary dead end for armored vehicle design. However, for the time, one has to remember what it was bringing to the table. A 125mm smoothbore gun, a well armored turret (after the A model), and quite decent forward mobility for the time, while also (allegedly) being easily mass produced. The autoloader, while interesting, is in my opinion not all that unique. On the contrary to my previous points, I DO feel that the T-72 became quickly outdated, and ended up as a bottleneck for Soviet/Russian armor technology rather quickly.
The sacrifices came at the aforementioned cost of crew ergonomics, which is of utmost importance, contrary to how most people tend to not bring it up. Many people laud its ability to fire guided missiles from the barrel as well. However, one must remember that the reason for this being introduced in the first place was due to the wholly inadequate fire control system. By the time the T-72 got the A model with the upgraded turret armor and barrel launched ATGMs, the M60A3 TTS and Abrams were rolling off the assembly line. The M60A3 TTS had an incredible FCS for the time, while the Abrams had this FCS, along with composite armor, incredible survivability, and much easier maintenance. The issues with the T-72 aren’t exactly easily curable either- crew comfort is inherent to the design. The survivability, while addressable, leads to the question of whether its more viable to simple produce a new tank entirely. In the end, the T-72 was quite the forward thinking design- but for the wrong war. It may have done its job if it were to swarm the Fulda Gap, but that job never came.