It all depends.
The Century AK's have always been decent. Not great, but decent. They are kind of the Plymouth of the AK world and in a strange and twisted way, follow the original ethos of the AK - cheap, reliable, and disposable.
Century's original L1A1's were good. Their R1A1 FAL's built on Imbel receivers were good. Their later FAL's built on DCI receivers were decent. Their Hesse-receiver FAL's were CRAP.
Their CETME's are CRAP. But their AR's are reportedly decent. Their Golani are reportedly not all that great but their Yugo AK's are great. Their HK 93's are reporteded pretty decent.
That leaves us with the VZ-58. The Jury hasn't had a chance to review all evidence on that one. Past history tells us it can be decent or crap. It will not be top of the heap, but it may be pretty darn good. It may be pretty darn bad. Early reports are that the park jobs are a bit thick and they need cycling to get things mated up.
That in itself is not really so bad if it is in the forgivable realm in which the CZ-75 trigger lies - that is with working of the parts it smooths out and things go well. It may be so with these rifles. It may also be so, of course, that they are hopeless junk that look good on the wall.
The Century does have a few advantages:
slightly longer barrel so no SBR potential problems
bayo lug so you can aggravate leftists
it IS a VZ-58, so parts kits can be had so that repairs can be made.
US receiver AND barrel helps big time on parts count.
about $300 cheaper - and that's alot of cash
The down sides are:
Century name - that deducts some cash and places them solidly, at best, in the shooter only category
no chrome (but then, no Yugo has chrome, either, and the VZ is probably the easies semi-auto out there to clean for corrosive ammo).
inferior finish
currently unknown regarding quality
cheesy AK muzzle device - but that can be replaced.
I own a D-technik and love it. I have ordered a Century to test it out. The imports are 50% more expensive and that is significant money. I'm all for loyalty - I'm a major CZ guy. But I also know that a Tanfoglio Witness in 45 is $200-$300 cheaper than a CZ-97 while at the same time fits my hand better. So, my 9mm's and 40's have always been CZ's. My 45's and 10mm's have been Tanfoglio.
In this case, I might learn to hate my decision. Or, I may end up with something like my Yugo AK - a great rifle. Time will tell.
Davis
