Is Pro/Engineer still around? I used Pro-E when I was at University (along with Solidworks) at the time it was my preferred package.
If I remember the results of googling 'Creo vs Solidworks' correctly, Creo is better at handling really big assemblies and is used extensively in automotive industry. Most of my peers prefer Solidworks.
I don't know what SolidWorks charges now, but I heard that the price is considerably more than $4k.