I really can't help with TurboCAD. I have been using AutoCAD since 1990, starting with v10. I have only seen demos of TurboCAD and it seems to have many of the capabilities of AutoCAD. I went to work fo a guy who was using DesignCAD (gag)

I own a copy of ACAD 2000, and the place I currently work uses 2002. You do not need the latest and greatest ACAD to do really cool stuff. ACAD 2000 had some real improvements ofer v14. All new releases since have had ''improvements'' that improved performance about as well as bigger fins improved the performance of cars back in the fifties.

AutoCAD gets dissed bay a lot of people as being difficult to use. It may be that since it is the first one I learned, I find all others hard to learn.

Here are some useful links to threads I have posted some CAD tips in.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_48...tm.htm#5152108

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_58...tm.htm#5882110

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_43...tm.htm#5758973

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_36...tm.htm#6199864

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_62...tm.htm#6274745

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_62...tm.htm#6321993

Another good PM package is Pro-Engineer, and you can get it from Journeyed.com without student ID for $200. You just need to certify that you will not use it commercialy.

EDIT

Redwulf.

About AutoCAD being Template based. Not realy. True, in the buisness world it's market share has shifted away from manufacturing and aerospace toward architecture. What I realy like about it is that it gives you a lot of creative control. I have taught ACAD, and hired CAD people. A lot of people will tell you they are a CAD wiz, and only know about 2% of what ACAD can do. I am really good and use less than half of it.

The point is that as the software has developed, a lot of functionality has been piled on that is not only not very useful, it downright gets in the way. If that old version of ACAD you have access to is v15 (2000) or later, you have all you need. If it is v14, there is still a lot you can do. I would be very surprised if it were an earlier version than that.