I got the opportunity to work with a lot of different tool and I would say maya is the best modeling tool, but since you want something less expensive I would say to stay away from cinema4D and truespace. I try them both and if you have to spend time learning how it works it's not worth it. truespace is outdated and cinema4d is not game oriented. I would buy modo, one of the best modeler ever and uv is like a zbrush extremely powerful. the new lightwave is a really good option. easy to learn and a powerful tool with great animation a lightmap baking issue.