I live in Texas and don't even like or drink soda but I have seen the Dr.Pepper made with cane sugar and some say it's greatness and others say it's no different in taste.
Of course over the last 30 years the switch from cane and beet sugar was made because it's cheaper to use corn syrup.
One important thing to know about soda especially is that American children LIVE off of soda and 'fruit' punches and that the fructose being used in these drinks is horrible for your childrens health and mostly their liver. It would probably be just as health wise to give your child a bottle of whiskey everyday than a case of cola.
Also be aware that juice drinks artificially sweetened with fructose, glucose, dextrose etc are just as bad as soda. The companies try their hardest to fool us into thinking they're so much healthier because they have REAL fruit in them, read the labels you will see that most have 'natural fruit flavoring' and other nonsense in them not actual fruit. The main difference in juice is that the pulp in a juice drink (if there is any) slows down the metabolism of the fructose sugars.
Another fact about 'fructose' is that cane and beet sugar can be metabolised by a persons entire body but fructose sugars are metabolised by ones liver only.
The main selling point of a soft drink of course is it's easy to use, open and drink-that's it. So it will continue to be drank by everyone and soda/juice companies will continue to get richer from it. And as the years go by these companies come up with better, easier to use, go anywhere bottles NOT BETTER TASTING, HEALTHIER DRINKS. Honestly, they could care less about the product only the profit. I seriously doubt most or any americans really hand sqeeze REAL FRUIT juice for themselves or their children 100% of the time.
I suggest water, which by the way also comes sweetened..blah.

I've noticed fruit drinks and some of the fruit sodas have 50-70% more calories by volume than Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, etc. And cane sugar is definitely more compatible with the workings of our digestive system than this awful high fructose corn syrup. As far as being able to notice the difference in taste between pure cane sugar and high fructose corn syrup, that probably varies from individual to individual depending on their specific palate and their experiences.