Well, i've gotten models that had every object as one mesh. For me, I don't usually use UVMapping so I like things seperate. I just like to make pictures look good.
I recently (well when I say recently I mean about 10 minutes ago...ish) downloaded a program called Maya, and it looks amazingly like Blender, though from what I've heard it seems in a completely different class of program.
As soon as I've found a Ky for it, I'll have a mess around and see what it's like.
No relevance whatsoever to cars, but it has got a slight relevance to 3D...and that's it.