It's not just you :)

Although you're wrong about facing (RTW, as well as all TW games, also has the stretch facing), it's true that on the whole, M2 units are a bit unresponsive (they take a few seconds to move once ordered) and their cohesion while marching is painful - apparently they love nothing more than switching formation randomly.
All of that can be viewed as a bad thing from a gameplay p.o.v., but it's probably more true to history. Except that reforming thing, and the silly clusterfrick that happens when you have a unit make a 180 turn on the spot. But you get used to it.

Cav charges are indeed harder to pull off successfully than in RTW, but 1) it's a feature and 2) there's a good reason for this, in that they are VERY powerfull in this game. I'm serious - even the most basic of cav units will obliterate any footman who hasn't got a spear in seconds if they manage to get a solid charge. Horses were good in RTW, but in M2 they are death incarnate.

All that being said, I'd say M2TW is the better game of the two - the strat aspect is richer what with religion and crusades and all, the AI is a tad better both on and off the field (a TAD I said ), there's more variety in units, less gimmicky/fantasy units, and no clearly overpowered faction/unit (like Roman families and phalanxes were in RTW). Also, the eye-candy is nothing to sneeze at either. Once you get used to the changes that you've witnessed on the battlefield, it's all good.