What's the thing about Tofu? It's not like that at all (have some respect for soy products)

I will agree that there is a little initial dead travel on the brake pedal and the pounds-of-brake-force per deceleration G's is lower than on other cars (like my wife's Jeep Liberty). But the big advantage is that you have a more supple braking response in case of a panic stop.

Imagine your mom (or mine) is driving back from Estes Park and finds a deer in the middle of the road. 99% odds are she's going to slam on the brakes. If the brake is too sensitive she would lock the wheels (well only partially because of the ABS) and oversteer... guess... rollover (knock on wood) is very likely. Softer brakes are 'safer' in panic situations.

Car manufacturing engineers have hours of discussions and arguments about how many inches of travel and how hard or sensitive should the brake pedal be. All to come out with thier best solution and still not please the other 50% of the population that likes thier brakes some other way.

One last comment: anyone remember the good old days driving a 1973 Toyota LandCruiser with 4 drum brakes and having to pump the brake twice (all the way) before getting any stopping power at all? And then having to compensate any asymmetric braking with steering wheel? I guess some of you remember.