re: How were German armored divisions so much more elite than their US counterparts

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The Germans couldn't do that. The Americans also valued speed and mobility more than heavy tanks.

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The German tanks had to do all the armor roles, too. Although they had some AT guns, and the late war Jagd self-propelled AT guns, the U.S. maintained a separate tank destroyer command. U.S. tanks' primary role was to lead general assaults. German tanks had to do that, plus handle the primary duty of enemy tank destruction.

That leads to the parallel development of the Panzer III (more of the anti-tank role)/Panzer IV (General infantry support and assault tank) and later the Panzer VI (Tiger)/Panzer V (Panther) with the same relationship.