I am of similar mind- the worst feature of my B5 is the rear brake. There's very thin "zone of effectiveness": a little less and it doesn't work very well, and a little too much and it locks up on you.
You probably need to center your brake. Mine is very progressive and to lock it up takes a bit of effort, which is the way I like it. But it's not the most powerful brake I've ever had either. Neither is the front one. But both are quite adequate.
I haven't been able to do a stoppie with it, but I have locked the front wheel up when I wanted to.
Most of the stopping problem is that we just don't have very much rubber on the ground, so you just have to deal with that. You learn little things such as not to drive directly behind another vehicle, especially one you can't see ahead of. I have, on a few occasions, had to avoid the vehicle ahead and end up beside him. Leave yourself some escape room, even if it's just not following very closely.
Bare