Wild World was not better, though it did have some features not in City Folk that would've been nice. However, the problem with City Folk was that it felt more like an expansion pack to Wild World than a new game, so if you played Wild World a lot, chances are you found City Folk lacking in several ways. If you played Wild World, you probably have more nostalgia for it than you do City Folk.
If you started with CF, you'll probably enjoy it more than WW due to how much was missing from WW, though WW had the much greater benefit of being portable.
I might be biased because I played Wild World first but I think Wild World is waaay better. City Folk is pretty much Wild World plus grass deterioration minus villagers actually being interesting. The only big thing City Folk has that Wild World doesn't is the city and real-world holidays but this doesn't make up for how dull the game is otherwise in my opinion. When you talk to villagers they literally say one thing and then repeat it for the rest of the day; in Wild World they say something different every time and are much more authentic and funny. I also really enjoyed Wild World's little made-up holidays like Acorn Fest, La-Di-Day and Bright Nights.