I’ve noticed that many car reviewers spend a good amount of time pointing out whether or not they like the texture/feel of materials on the interior of the car. Does the average person actually care about this aspect of their car, or is it just a point of interest for some niche group of car enthusiasts? I’ve driven shitboxes and I’ve driven luxury cars, and I have never cared about or even noticed the feel or quality of the material on the dash and the steering wheel. I guess maybe the steering wheel material could make some people uncomfortable depending on what it’s made of, but come on, the dashboard? Who ever strokes their hand against their dashboard just to feel what the texture is like?
A car, like anything that you use, has to have a good ‘handshake’ when you use it. By that I mean the physical experience of using it has to feel good. Soft supple leather, suede, smooth finished wood, cool metal, these all feel good to touch and thus have a good handshake. Hard, cheap plastics and rubbers don’t.
And it’s not just textures, it’s sounds, interactions and experiences. If you grab your shift knob and it creaks, that’s a bad handshake. If the car plays a soft soothing tune when you get in, that’s a good handshake. If the infotainment UI is smooth and responsive, good handshake. We’ve all been in cars with bad, clunky infotainment systems before, and it’s monumentally frustrating and not a good handshake. Think about cars with amazing engine sounds; a stock Alfa Romeo Giuliano Quadrifoglio is always going to have a better audio handshake than a stock economy car.
I don’t remember who wrote the article, but I remember reading one about a Mercedes model that had interior lights that came on smoothly when you opened the door (a new feature in vehicles at the time), instead of just slamming on full tilt, and that was how he described it, was as ‘a good handshake’.
It’s why I use an iPhone. I know they’re not the end all be all of phones that nothing can compare to. But they have a weight in the hands, the materials feel good, and the UI is responsive and smooth. It just feels nice to use compared to any other types of phone I’ve tried.