I do very few profiles or x-sections. Generally that is an engineering function and I send all of that mess to them. I am strictly plannimetric and topographic plats and maps.
If you prepare 20 or more x-section sheets a month, civil would pay for itself in a month or two in time saved. Once you have your alignment, you can knock out a profile or x-section with all lines and labels in under 5 minutes.
I think the civil pack for 2005 may still be available. You would need to check with your re-seller on that.
If you are laying out water and sewer lines and preparing the plan/profile sheets, this pack would be a "God Send".
I have used this pack on a sewer project over in Vicksburg, Ms. 175 miles of sewer line. Plan profile sheet covering the full project. I did the topo map and then cut a plan/provle from the engineer's layout. Probably 50 or 60 profiles. I really would have hated to do the project by interpolating elevations along the stations and then hand plotting that on a grid. I would probably just now be finishing up.
You need the tools to do your work in the shortest amount of time while maintaing accuracy and producing a professional looking product. That's what all of these add-ons allow you to do.
I cannot imagine doing my work without these tools, yet I am told 90% of the firms out there are doing this work and not using the figure prefix library or descriptor keys. Fine. Go ahead on Dudes. I'll smoke your butts on the schedule and thus I can do the work for less exspense and know my data is complete and correct. QC to the max!
See if your re-seller can get you a demo. I really believe that once you try it you won't want to go back. (I don't know that I can say that about Civil 3D. Haven't loaded it yet.)