What do you just like the tactile feeling of?

Our Accord has a knurled knob for the radio volume.  I like knurled aluminum and this moves really nicely too. It reminds me of a Curta calculator. 

I had a ‘64 Chevy C-10 with a 230 and three on the tree. I loved shifting that truck, even with its non-synchronized first gear. If I ever build a hotrod, it will probably have a Chevy three speed with the column shifter out of an old truck. 

Oddly enough, I considered myself to be a Ford Guy back then and my best friend drove a 1970 Bronco with a 170 and three on the tree. That shifter was awful. 

A good shifter on a motorcycle clicking into gear. Cutting into a very tender piece of meat. Bolt action rifle. 

clutchsmoke said:

 Bolt action rifle. 

Dad got me a pump action .22 rifle when I was old enough to have one.  Wanted a pump in order to make sure I planned my shots.  The feel of the mechanism sliding from one position to another as I racked a round gave rise to much of what I love of a good shifter.

Also, the feel of that long damned spring in an M-16 resonating through your cheekbone and shoulder during qualifications is a feel I love.

The padded handle on my old snap on 1/4inch drive ratchet. It's just the perfect fit for me.

the feel of a t5. It's notchy and far from perfect but my first fast stick shift car was a turbo 2.3 swapped mustang. 
 

a quality mechanical keyboard. As someone who logged a lot of hours on video games going from a cheap dell keyboard to a quality mechanical one was heaven!

My 1966 Ford F-100 pickup has a heavy duty four speed with a granny low.   I love shifting gears on that thing, the shift lever moves with a nice click-snick from one gear to the next.  The Hurst competition plus shifter in my '61 Bonneville is also nice, in a different way - it needs to be shifted hard and fast.

I like closing the doors on my e28 5-series BMW.  When they latch, the mechanism makes a slight little ding noise that is characteristic to every e28.  It also has the factory sport steering wheel that is very nice to hold.

Radio tuning knob in my Buicks. Smooth but clicks at each stop. 

Feel of pushing down the right pedal on a 2019 Dodge Charger RT. Go from 75 to 98 in a ridiculously small amount of time. Good thing I don't own one or I'd have so many tickets by now.

The feel of a tough bolt/nut finally coming loose is very satisfying also.

Feelings that I hate when working on cars is rust falling in my eyes and the one time that I somehow splashed some gasoline in my eye.

The clicker on a Parker Jotter. 

Had an old pawn shop Gretsch with a bolt on neck and flat body, dot inlays, single cutaway. Can't remember the model but it was instant. As soon as I picked it up off the hanger it was a done deal. The pickups weren't right for me, and I changed the way the controls worked (switching, 2 volumes-no tone) but the feel of the thing was just perfect. I'd have bought it just to hold even if I couldn't play at all.

Rotating a freshly assembled bottom end with an 18" breaker. Just checking it after torquing all the bearings. Something about watching everything move so quietly and smoothly and feeling it happen. 

Everything about my old Samurai. It was a thin metal and felt like it. The shifter had a really positive action.

Actually, everything except for the folding plastic hinges on the glovebox and storage bin. That crossed the line from cheap to E36 M3ty.

Hydraulically assisted BMW steering. You can feel the whole car's family resemblance to my 2002, but I have to say the E30 (with an E36 rack) and E28 both had a just excellent combination of weight and feedback.

I'm so sad it's been so long since the 2002 was running and I'm not sure how heavy it was anymore. Driving the MGB with the E30 and E28 in somewhat more recent memory, I want to say I'm more or less done with manual steering unless it's something *really* light, but the Mini tells me that however efficient electric assist is, we're nowhere near the tactile feedback of hydraulic stuff.

On a cold morning, flipping all the switches and when the starter kicks in and you see smoke out the exhaust and it slowly comes to life.  A big radial engine. 

The Marlin always started just like a car.

The shifter in my '76 Vette was perfect.

The oily smoothness my '91 Firebird steers with is nice too. 

All my cars get leather steering wheels. Plastic/rubber sucks. The wood wheel in my dad's 67 Chevelle was pretty nice too.

I'm sticking with tittyballs.

Woody said:

Our Accord has a knurled knob for the radio volume.  I like knurled aluminum and this moves really nicely too. It reminds me of a Curta calculator. 

The shifter throw and effort on a well-maintained SAAB 9000.  Short enough to be sporty and not so cramped a motion that you get the wrong gear when hustling.

Outside of cars, the polished nickel-plated finish on a large Starrett 91C tap handle.  I never expected a piece of metal would feel any different to another piece of similar metal, but putting that up against a visually similar chinesium tap handle is a study in luxury vs walmart.

A set of well broken-in surgical needle holders.

My suturing technique comes from my training by equine surgeons. I learned to hold them in my palm, instead of putting my finger and thumb in the rings.

Squeeze to unlock them, close your palm to lock them, and open and close with your thumb. It's faster, more versatile, and after a couple of decades, totally intuitive.

Good sensation.  A perfectly sharp 9" chef knife.  Cutting anything, but particularly root vegetables 

Bad sensation . That 80's to 90's GM multi function wiper switch. I could never decide if it felt more like breaking a celery stalk or bending a barbi doll knee. 

OK, not a car; the cockpit of my DG-300.  Your butt sits in a well, back and head slightly propped up with knees about even with your elbows.  The canopy goes farther back than your head and the front of the canopy goes well below your toes, lots and lots of visibility!

A friend of mine is a retired tool and die maker. He gave me a digital Mitutoyo vernier caliper. I've only ever had cheap ones before. The weight of it, the way it slides, even the snap on the case, it all just feels so right.

Ransom said:

Hydraulically assisted BMW steering. You can feel the whole car's family resemblance to my 2002, but I have to say the E30 (with an E36 rack) and E28 both had a just excellent combination of weight and feedback.

Owning an e28 and an e30, I'd go along with that (except the universal joint in the steering column on my e30 has been binding up, and BMW says they "may" have more of them available in March.)

In reply to stuart in mn :

I like the feel of a pair of acorn nuts from the head of a 3.8 Jaguar to roll around in the palm of my hand.  

There's a great bit in Rowan Atkinson's "The Driven Man" where he's sitting in a Rolls Royce, just playing with a couple of the HVAC controls or something and just basking in the silky smoothness while narrating about Rolls's understanding of the importance of tactile impressions.

Old soldier in me has to say the Eugene Stoner got the AR platform just right.  It all falls to hand just as it should and makes all other firearms feel like a compromise.  It's a tool for a specific job with no "extraneous" fat on it.

The shifter on my NC is pretty perfect.

Weirdly, digging my fingernails into a fresh and warm A7.

Shifting an S2000. Especially how gratifying it is to do a 1st year downshift in an autocross run and it effortlessly falls into place. 
 

A leather Momo Monte Carlo. That wheel is the definition of perfection. 
 

New bewbs. 

I've always loved the exterior door latch buttons on W111 Mercedes and the sound of the doors latching. Same goes for the trunk. 

Flipping open a MKIV VW key from its fob. 

Releasing the slide on a Colt 1911 (at least my Norinco variant). It isn't precise, smooth, or easy, but it has a certain 'seriousness' about it. You know what it's meant for, and that what comes next is not to be taken lightly.