Wow. Asking for money for the enhanced version of a product that never worked for C3D with the promise that, what, it really works now? I've heard that from them in many different forms for the last 20 years. I was one of the fortunate CAD Managers who spotted th vault trap early on and recommended we not implement. That was 5 versions ago and I've kept my eye on it ever since with no hope of it becoming useful.
Autodesk would be wise to market the new features, if they work, continue to push it out for free for a couple releases and then do a major upgrade for $$ once some people understand how it would beneifit their group. Still sucky business, but at least it makes sense rather than this type of grab that will most likely fail miserably because of vaults track record.
I would HIGHLY recommend you hold passing judgment until you've at least reviewed Vault Collaboration AEC 2012. We have made significant changes to the way Vault & C3D interact as well as the way your data can be shared with outside parties. VC AEC will NOT be free with Subscription, it is a separate purchase.
While you may still find that VC AEC doesn't do anything to improve your particular situation, I just encourage all of you to make sure you understand the latest product improvements before writing off a pretty powerful tool for Civil firms. Visit with your reseller, they should understand your business and situation to be of real help in making these evaluations. If your reseller doesn't have the answers to satisfy you, please ask them to contact me via the Frontline team at Autodesk.