While VectorWorks has quite a few things worth copying and has become a decent boolean and now NURBS modeler, it's not in the same league as ArchiCAD in terms of Building Information Modeling. So if you want to model furniture, as I used to do in VectorWorks, it's great. But if you need to produce CDs for a high end residence you're better off with AutoCad, and much better off with ArchiCAD.
But the issue here is not so much bang for the buck or how good or not VectorWorks itself is. Rather it's the fact that a moderately priced CAD package can have a better rendering engine than a high-end BIM application. They do because they simply bought it, just like formZ, Ashlar Cobalt, ProE...
Regards, Geoff Briggs
I & I Design, Seattle, USA
AC7-29, M1 Mac, OS Tahoe
Graphisoft Insider's Panel, Beta Tester
