The Westfield has most major chains you'd want, including a David Jones and a cinema.
There are some good local restaurants.
For a satellite city/outer suburb/exburb, the area around the Hornsby CBD is surprisingly dense. Three-storey blocks of flats and apartment buildings, for the most part.
Very multicultural these days.
Walking distance to national parks.
Multiple train lines to most of northern Sydney, as well as the Central Coast, Newcastle, and beyond.
You can comfortably live without a car there.
I've had the misfortune of visiting the local hospital. It's clean and modern.
Good public and private schools.
It's close to the Macquarie Park business precinct, as well as the university.
It's reasonably affordable (at least by Sydney standards).
But.
There's little in the way of live music. Or arts and culture.
It's a long way from many of the places you'd want to visit in Sydney.
No local beaches.
While there are good restaurants there, it doesn't hold a candle to somewhere like Newtown, or Surry Hills, or Church Street in Parramatta.
So it's a good place.
But it's a long, long way off top five place in all of Australia.