I do not like the brake pedal travel and feel on these cars, I really do think it is one of the weak points.
Do not get me wrong, they drop anchor and stop,,, BUT the pedal feel is just not right to me,
it feels a bit Caddy you know, not a problem around town but if you want to push on in the curveys it does not inspire confidence.

 

Maybe it's just me, but most fullsize luxury cars are not really intended to be racecars. I think Jaguar was much more concerned about having it be able to start and stop smoothly, as it is commonly a chauffeured sedan in the UK. But yes, I agree, the braking feel is fairly soft. I like it that way!

 

I agree, the brake feel can be poor but it's a matter of what you're used to. I never thought the car stopped all that well, but a big part of it is the pads. Using low dust pads can contribute to weaker braking. High friction pads make it much better but they make lots of dust. I use a higher performance pad than the ceramics and they will pull the car down very quickly, the difference is remarkable. Pads are a compromise : the low muss, low fuss pads don't stop as well, the high performance pads dust and squeak and wear the rotors more but they brake much better, just pick what you want.

 

I might mention that my way to tell what kind of pad is on there is to apply the brakes lightly when travelling about 60, an agressive performance pad will feel like a weak initial bite and without pushing the pedal any harder, will quickly heat up and the braking force will briefly increase geometrically on its own. A ceramic will not increase the force by itself, you will have to push the pedal harder to increase the force. High performance pads typically work better as they get hotter. This is just my personal observation with my limited number of cars so it may not agree with other peoples experience. The Pagid pads (German made) on my XJ8 provide very good braking performance, the best of any Jag sedan I've had. Got them as the house pad from BAP/Geon.

 

I of course drive all the jag models and switched to ebc redstuff front and rear 3 yrs ago and the differance is night and day over stock. Pedal feel imo is better on light apps and on panic theres no fade and ive stood on them from freeway + speeds without a wimper. As a side benefit while theyre not exactly touted as a low duster from ebc, they almost non dusting compared to the stock jag pads and i think their performance is about on par with the brembo's on the r's

 

I'll add that, broadly speaking, ABS brakes generally have a softer pedal feel and more pedal travel.

If you drive an older car with non-ABS brakes and the traditional "hard pedal" ....and then jump in a modern car that has ABS, the modern car's brake pedal will probably feel like mush until you become accustomed to it.

Cheers
DD