I would consider town even worse. Your three arguments for town being better are that
1. It renders better
2. These places used to be towns
3. They’re basically the same size as towns… right?
As established, the first is tagging for the renderer. Saying these places were towns in the past does not make them towns today (they aren’t). Lastly, because they are the same size as a town does not make them a town (regardless, each borough would be big enough to be considered a city in its own right). This makes tagging them as towns more inaccurate, which is why people are confused.
If you’re so concerned, maybe you should discuss with the greater community first rather than just assume people should agree with your subjective opinions. Maybe they should be changed to borough! But you are accepting it as impossible without even trying to interact with the greater community. No one’s saying you’re wrong about borough being better.