Had my test drive yesterday at the Los Angeles event and wanted to relay my thoughts. But first, to ggr, sorry to hear you had a bad experience. That sounds like a different event than I went to. Everyone was amazingly helpful and really welcoming. There seemed to be a good mix of females and males driving during my short trip to the event in Hawthorne yesterday and everyone was talking about their driving experiences and how great they were.
The one thing I didn't get to do was look at the blue car up close and personal because it was charging the entire time I was there. A super friendly Tesla employee tried to pull it around the side of the building so I could check it out but he said it was parked three cars in and he couldn't move it. So sadly, I will have to wait longer to see the blue in person.
Onto my experience. (Some of this everyone here probably knows but I was writing it for someone who didn't read the TMC discussion boards)
My test drive of the Model-S was amazing. The car handles and drives very solidly and all the discussion of a low center of gravity is very true. You can really feel it when you take a sharp corner very quickly...say at 55mph!!! And especially when breaking to a complete stop from 75 mph. The interior feels very solid and comfortable and almost everything is customizable. You can change the steering from Sport (firm steering), to Standard (medium steering), to Comfort (very squishy steering (I didn't like this setting). You can change the break regen to act more like an automatic ICE car feel or the standard setting is to have a rather aggressive break regen and so you get "One pedal driving" reducing the need for breaking and putting less wear and tear on the break pads.
The interior looked great on all the cars I saw and the rear facing kid seats look perfect for my two boys as soon as they are heavy enough (My son is tall enough but needs to gain 6-7 lbs before he can ride back there.)
The pickup is amazing and unfortunately I test drove a Signature Performance Model-S. Unfortunate because it will be hard to not buy that model!
The course was a good representation of different driving environments you might be in. You started with a small jaunt in front of SpaceX to get a feel for the steering, acceleration, handling and regen then a left onto Crenshaw Blvd for a good example of city driving and merging then a quick merge through the HOV lane to get onto I-105. They encouraged us to take the sharp right turn as fast as possible to get a sense for the low center of gravity but some bozo cut in front of me over the solid white line as I was trying to do this.
Then a short, short drive on I-105 (the car gets to 75 so fast it was almost imperceptible.) I had to constantly look at the speedometer to see how fast I was going.
Then a quick exit (I took it at about 60mph around the curve with no roll whatsoever) onto Prairie Avenue which had lots of stoplights and some light traffic allowing me to open the panoramic sunroof all the way and test out the different steering modes while merging and changing lanes.
Then a left onto Northrop Ave. where Tesla had paid a cop to sit there and NOT issue tickets for the day to anyone who blasted off from a cold start to 75mph in about 4 seconds. That was great.
There is very little noise in the car with the windows shut and only some wind and a slight "Tesla whine" from the back of the car (but much less than the roadster) when the panoramic roof and windows are open.
I've read about slight wind noise on the drivers side but I didn't notice anything that bothered me (I was probably having too much fun).
I took two of my friends and we all walked off with a Tesla Grin.
Needless to say, getting back into my Gen 3 Prius to go back home was quite a disappointment.
The car is amazing and the software they have implemented is really intelligent, easy to use and beautiful to look at. I really think this car is going to change the world.
