I know I'm late to this thread, but I also prefer the third to the other two rebuilds. Not only that, but it really irks me how the second is higher rated than not only the third, but the original on MAL. In the second, many scenes are redone poorly, and give less effect to the viewer– for example, Shinji can't see who what's going on when Unit 04 is being attacked by Unit 01. Then, the characters are also reduced to an infuriatingly trivial point, with Asuka and Rei literally having a cooking contest. Finally, to add the icing to the cake, they add a pointless, fanservice filled character that gets no development. So, in total, I think it at least seems like the first two rebuilds were a 1080p, nice CG mess. They didn't really remake the series, and certain features are changed in such an odd way to a point where a good viewer has to wonder why (such as Asuka's last name being changed), and hopefully we'll get an explanation in 3.0+1.0.

But now as for why you liked the third, I'll at least explain why I prefer it. First, it doesn't "kinda remake...sort of" anymore. It understands what it is. Once again, as we did in the last episodes of the original NGE, we can finally feel and experience Shinji's world as Shinji does. You're left in the dark, you're unsure of what's going on, you're confused by Rei's actions, et cetera. Then, they also bring back the original feel of the characters– Rei doesn't have weird (maybe?) love for Shinji, Gendo is Gendo, Shinji becomes more human again (rather than some kind of hero)...and all of their interactions make sense. You feel a genuine closeness between Shinji and Kaworu, and the context of their relationship considering their circumstances. I don't think 3.0 is some "shipperfest" or some movie made for dystopian-fiction loving teens. I think that it's an ambitious and interesting extension to the Evangelion rebuilds, and that it's totally reasonable to prefer it to the first two.