Pedal Feel
 

My father just bought a new bmw x5. And all I can say is wtf, how did I get stuck with this pos econobox.

The coolest thing about the bimmer is the brake feel is amazing, you can feel the pad diggin into the rotor. The brakes in this thing are gigantic, with really thick pads.

How can I at least have brakes even a little like this thing's. Is it all about the pads. Or are they not really a big deal and its the lines flexing.

How much do you want to spend? The money you pay for a BMW (and how they advertise themselves as driver's cars), you better get good brakes. First thing I would do is upgrade to stainless braided brake lines (might as well do the clutch too while you are at it). Bleed it all real good and this should give you a nice tight feel to your pedal. After that, upgrade the pads and if you still aren't satisfied, the rotors. I did my gf's '99 ES (drum rears) with all of the above, first time she drove it she complained that she couldn't stop because she slide through a stop sign. What I think happened is she applied the same amount of pressure and locked them up. She used to them now and no more complaints. So far all I have done to my '03 ES (disc rear) is stainless lines, and I really like the feel. All of my cars/bikes have this upgrade. I do that before I modify anything to increase the power, if you can't stop you are screwed.

I stop very well.
The hole front of the car dips down, the back rears up and you hear the springs compress and click around for a while. Even the stock brakes with a nice set of tires will pretty much dead stop the car, like nothing I've ever seen.

Its just that the brakes feel spongy, I know that if I get some metalic pads like what the bimmer uses it takes alot more force to get the same (greater) effect as normal pads. Is the feeling of the rotor getting cut into just a function of the pads or the brake lines and fluid (which I plan to change anyway).

bleed the lines... the spongyness will go down... and also put in some braided lines....

i hear that helps.. and also rotors and pads (i guess pretty much everything hehe)

also the price diff between X5 and protege hehe... u caint really compare em much hey

I haven't tested this sort of thing, but I suspect your feeling of the pad biting the rotor is a function of the type of pad (maybe to a lesser degree the rotors). Like MC said, stainless lines and bleeding will eliminate the sponginess. Try that mod first, it isn't too expensive (I would recommend the lines Horsepowerfreaks.com sells, I also bought some from Corksport and while cheaper they didn't fit without finagling). If after the lines you aren't happy then buy some upgraded pads like Hawk HPS and try those. If that still doesn't give what you are looking for then get some quality rotors (like Brembos, they can be found cheap on eBay).