Zack Mahdavi’s Blog

So I finished my last exam on Saturday, and I left Austin on Sunday. Oooh, it’s been nice, but a little boring. I guess it’s good to be bored at times… it helps you relax, I guess.

What’s the first thing I unpacked as soon as I got home? My computer, of course! Hehehhee… I just miss the UT ResNET network. DSL feels like what dialup felt when our family first upgraded to DSL. Oh well, I’ll get used to it!

And besides, tomorrow Maria and Stephen come back.. and most of my other friends too! That will be good.

So I’m sitting here in front of my computer right now car shopping on the internet. I just configured a 2003 Audi A4 with a 3.0 L 220hp V6 engine, the QUATTRO all-wheel drive, and 17″ alloy wheels. It came to $37,000 for Audi’s entry level car! Oh well, it’s an Audi… and since Audis are awesome, that’s okay! Comparing it to the new Infiniti G35 sedan, they both come to about the same price, but the G35 has much more options, although its larger and heavier. Hehehe… notice how I didn’t compare any of these cars to American cars. I wouldn’t feel very patriotic if I did that…. Sorry GM and Ford.

But have you all heard of those new GM 24 hour test drives the company is offering? They’re advertising it like this: “See how it fits in your garage. See how it fits in your life.” I think the fact that they’re offering this is going to be incredible! People hate the little 15 minute test drives they take… it’s just not comforting enough to take such a short test drive and then fork over thousands of dollars for this car that you only have first impressions of. The fact that GM is offering these 24 hour test drives really means they are so confident about their cars, they’re willing to have people brush off those first impressions and really decide if the car is right for them.

Acura has been doing a similar program for a long time. If you ask to testdrive an Acura, the dealer will hand you the keys and let you drive the car off for a couple hours without the backseat sales pitch going on. It’s really awesome that they let you drive the car around without the dealer in the car. That’s what’s incredible.

The car market is down, and car companies reallize this. That’s why they’re innovating their cars like crazy right now to get people to buy in this market. That’s very admirable. It’s time for the airline companies to understand that, instead of just whining for money from the government.

And there’s my 2 cents.
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