What are the odds of a pair of twin sisters buying exactly the same car at the same time for the same reasons? Well, that is exactly what happened, kind of freaky, huh? Behavior geneticists compare how alike one twin is with the other twin on whatever variable they are interested in; in my case this study is about two twin sisters named Jory and Julie and their car-buying behavior.
During the M2W Conference in Chicago a few months back I had the pleasure of spending time with Jory Des Jardins, Co-Founder of BlogHer. Jory was in the market for a new car and asked for some car buying tips. She was leaning towards the Audi A4, her husband Jesse, a BMW.
I recently had an up close and personal experience with the Audi A4 driving it through Northern California's wine country and at Infineon Speedway. This was during the very first media event held for women by Audi. I got to experience the A4 for an entire weekend and learn in detail all about its features from Sabine Lapin and other Audi women who are part of the design team. For me it was love at first drive and I shared with Jory what I loved about it and why.
Unknown to Jory her identical twin sister Julie, living in another part of the country, was also in the market for a new car around the same time. Jory and Julie never discussed they were looking for new cars. In fact the subject never came up.
Here is Jory's Story:
"Jesse and I wanted to get a new car, but we were divided. He favored the BMW 335ix (he wanted a car “with balls”) but I wanted an A4. We test-drove both. He agreed that the A4 had something very appealing. I think it’s more feminine, less vroom vroom. We both felt the interior was more attractive in the Audi. We also considered the long-term maintenance and gas. The 2.0T A4 had less power but a lot better gas mileage. And while the BMW had a ton of features, it seemed like a ton could go wrong. For me, someone not so used to having a high-powered car, I thought the drive in the Audi was perfectly smooth. I didn’t need to feel like Speed Racer. I just thought it felt connected to the road and had plenty of zip."
Here is Julie's Story:
"So here's me and my car just before dropping everyone off at school and camp this morning. Funny enough, we were looking at the same cars as Jory and Jesse. My husband stopped into the dealer and asked to see an A6. I liked the smaller A4 and told him that as long as we could fit the car seats in the back, I'd prefer the smaller car. I'm no car expert, so I just went by how the car looked and the fact that it had all-wheel drive. We had a car without it, and I slid uncontrollably on an icy road. I swore that I would never go without more control ever again, especially with kids in the car. I loved the dashboard of this car, and my husband loved the built-in GPS screen and radio controls, which are on the steering wheel and where a gear shift normally is. He uses the voice commands and hooks up his iPod and phone to the car. I can't be bothered with all that, so I just drive with the same Sirius station in the background. Despite the camera showing you what's behind the car when you back up, I can't help but look back there myself--I guess I'm just programmed to do it. I'd find a way to hit something anyway. I love the way the car drives."
This could really be a quite an interesting study for behavior geneticists to find out how many identical twins do buy exactly the same car in the same make, model, and color. However, for the purpose of my study it shows Jory and Julie are twin sisters who are (coincidentally?) interested in, as a top priority, five common reasons women weight heavily before they make a
