@Dracostan hats off to you (and @andybp as well) for building your own total respect. Thank you for interesting read.
Just sharing my own 2p on the SW. Generally it is a good package all round, it is straight forward to use compare to other packages I have used. For the analytic tools I would suggest have a search for more specialised tool. As I know from the industry they tends to use other software for fluid flow and hardcore FEA. There are also acoustic tuning software good for engine simulation like Ricardo, may help .
The experts get it wrong as well with digital simulations. As it is as good as the person setting the study up and it can spill out complete beans. It takes a lot of physical test and correlations to get it right.
I wish both of you good luck and keep up the good work. More than happy to help although my SW is well dated!