3D software help

[alien]

I'm looking to upgrade to a newer and more powerful piece of 3D software and was hoping to get some help in my decision. At the moment I'm using Carrara 4 Pro, and while I'm able to do quite a few things with it, it just isn't living up to my expectations. I ultimately would love to get Maya, but that program is ridiculously expensive. What is a good alternative to Maya, keeping in mind that I'm not making my living off of the program, yet I'd like to have professional looking results at the end of the day. I use AutoCAD and FormZ at work, so I'm no stranger to a more "complex" user interface and toolset. Thanks for your help in advance.