Brake Pads and Tranny Coolers on a DD

I'm catching up the scheduled maintenance on my gf's '03 Pontiac Vibe. It has 75k miles. It needs brake pads, and I'm also thinking of putting on a transmission cooler kit that I've just got laying around the house.

Pads: What pads would you run on a vehicle with no sporting pretensions? I don't mind shorter life or a little more dust than normal parts store pads, but they have to be great when cold and I don't want to spend a mint. I've been happy with the Hawk HPS pads on my Miata, although I don't know if they have an application for the Vibe or not. I'm also not above just putting good parts store pads on it if that's my best bet.

Tranny cooler: I apologize, I don't really speak automatic. This is laying around after I bought it for the last automatic vehicle I owned...which turned out to have a really nice external cooler from the factory. (Woo, towing package!) It's smallish, but this is not a big car. Is there any downside to putting one of these on? Should I run it in series with the cooler in the radiator or just disconnect that one?

Alan

If the driver uses the car like an appliance maintain it as such.

For the brake pads I would go with the mid-grade semi-metallics from your local parts store. If the car goes through brakes fast find out if the driver likes to wait until the last second and then jump on the brakes. If there is still an issue and the mechanicals check out ok (pins, calipers, etc) go for an upgraded pad.

If the transmission is known to have issues or the car is heavily loaded down often add the trans cooler for insurance. If not save it for another project.