According to my opinion, people who are used to hard braking on other cars (even while normal driving), they don't like ABS brakes. But even if you brake hard on ABS brakes, they try to lock and you feel it.
Now either you can check any other similar car, which you already mentioned that no friend of yours have one, or you can ask someone else to drive your car and rate the brakes. Now this person should not have a car like Mercedes :). let him rate the brakes.
But the brakes of GLi and Altis are not that bad which your posts show.
thanks,