Wow, this thread is still going on and we get a fantastic couple of renders to boot!  I still use Carrara actually for some scene creation and then bring it into lightwave...I'm still learning but I love it so far!  As far as premade content...kind of exactly what the post has been about...I just found it easier for me to turn out something more realistic in Lightwave using premade content.  I wanted to share that with fellow Carrara users...since I am one myself...thus this thread was created in a Carrara forum not like a Poser forum. 

I was excited and if it came off as offensive...hey my apologies.

I still think Hex is a better modeler than LW, and if Hex ever gets improved so it can handle complex geometry without crashing...I think its hard to beat. 

As far as Carrara is concerned, I'm still keeping up with it...and I hope it gets the attention it deserves...for the price its hard to beat.