I personally wouldnt even think about a lathe that didnt have live tooling. I was on the fence for years, but it seems every single part I run uses live tools...dont think I could live without now.
BTW I run one job that I tap 8620 cast steel with a M17 tap an inch deep...works great. I was scared it wouldnt have enough power. I have also thread milled the same with excellent results (my customer wanted a smaller PD on one run). I also do tons of aluminum parts that have a big asthetic quotent to them.