They aren't ridiculously pumped, they are just engineered. If you think the ships in a CZ are tough, try a pirate threat.
In CZs you can encounter 'spec ops' ships/wings, which are even tougher than the other CZ ships.
I like the way it works. Fight the sheep in RES or CNB. Fight the wolves in pirate threats and CZs. I like having tiered combat challenge, and where I can seek it out, or not, by which instances I opt in to.