I am working in Maya for about 2 weeks and was using max before maya for 2 years and so far I can say that Maya is...better!
3Ds is really great peace of CGI toolary but only if you have the most of the plug-ins.For every biginner 3Ds max is a great start! Every other 3D program is working in same or in a simmilar way!Maya has everything that 3D artist will ever need and some tools are done much more better than in max!
Max is mostly used for games design but it can also handle very complex animations especaly if you got all required plugins. The new version of max now includes the mental ray wich is used for ultrarealistic rendering!
Maya, in other hand, gots everything, but the question is will you use Maya's features like fur,hair,fluids...for a car design or arhitectural max is more than enough for you.

Sorry for my English.
Good luck!