Here's a photo of my car. Unfortunately, other photos are impossible to take at the moment, as it is cold here and the car is in storage. But perhaps you can see the smoothness of the finish.

I would imagine that paint quality (like any other manufacturing item) is affected by environmental and production variables. If you have orange peel or otherwise poor quality paint, it could be the result of several things (i.e. I imagine ambient temperature, clean/ replacement of spray nozzles, incoming solvent/ paint quality from vendors, humidity, %solvent/ %paint mix, curing time & temperature, etc could all have an effect). Automakers strive to document and rigorously control any source of variance in the production process, but they can never really eliminate it.

Judging paint quality is subjective, too. Compared to the other cars that I have owned, my Crossfire has sublime paint quality. To my eyes, it looks ten feet deep, with no orange peel and no other visible defects. But, based on what you've owned previous, you may feel differently. I am sure that the Crossfire's finish looks much better parked next to a new Mazda, than say, a new Audi A8.