Over the past few years, its seems like more and more regular cars have multi-piston brake calipers like the new subaru impreza. 10 or 15years ago, even performance oriented cars didn’t frequently have those until you went pretty far up market. And it doesn’t seem like it is for marketing, since it isn’t often advertised. If single piston calipers were good for an audi s4, why does a new subaru impreza need multi-piston calipers? have there been developments in cost or technology?
Most stuff was already written but this: Modern Cars brake an awful lot by themselve. Early Cruise Control let you go above your set speed if engine braking wasnt enough, now the Car constantly brakes whenever it reaches a Threshold. Lane assist brakes single discs to keep the Car where it should be, same for torque vectoring.
Most often the rear brakes are used for these systems, so pads in the back get replaced way more than the front, where the big braking power is happening.