I've tested the files from the ExtraCD, bridge.lwo, Angelfish.obj, Cupidon.obj and vue crashed without warning. I had some success with a single Object in an obj file so I cannot say the importer isn't working at all, but more complex files didn't work that were loadable in the previous version of vue. I made a lot of tests befor I decided to buy this software and I hope they will get this fixed.
@dlk30341: Thanks for the hint to the tutorial. I am trying to import objects that were modelled in blender (blender.org) and the obj format seemed to work. I can export to lwo from blender but yes, without textures, so I will have a look at the tutorial.