Haven't tried a Tesla but I have tried the recent Porsche controls and I preferred the old ones to be honest. My experience with car controls is that the nearer the steering wheel (preferably on the wheel) the better and the more tactile the better.
But they're still not as good as physical buttons, because they are impossible to control without looking at them.
I don't know how long your test drive was but you may have missed that there are plenty of physical controls in the S, including buttons, that cover most functionality.
There are pros and cons to touchscreens. For phones, I can see someone preferring the larger screen to physical buttons. I'm not one of those people, but I can understand it.
What are the pros in a car that outweigh the cons? Looking at your fingers while you fiddle with a phone is annoying. Looking at them while you drive a car is incredibly dangerous.
And I say this because I thought exactly the same thing before I experienced it. Similar to how I thought I’d never enjoy a full touchscreen phone and that it’d never beat physical keys until alas I actually tried the iPhone. Tesla’s UX is really really good. And almost everyone has a change of heart when it’s actually in front of them.
I recommend you at least give it a go if you’re interested.