I doubt that you'll find many people modeling with old style meshes in AutoCAD in the last 10 years. Meshes definitely have their place, if you understand and know how to use them.
But for the last 10 years, AutoCAD has become a very powerful 3D modeler, with a lot of new modeling features.
Lofting, nurbs, mesh subdivision, smoothing, solids. I would say that you can do at least 90-95% of what Solidworks can do in AutoCAD, if you know what you're doing.
THe biggest problem with 3D modeling in AutoCAD is that you need a pretty powerful PC if you're doing complex models. Until last year, I've done all my modeling in AutoCAD. But now I'm switching to Fusion 360, which is far more capable for 3D work, has built in CAM, and is about 15% of the price of AutoCAD. (And free for most hobbyists).
But I still use AutoCAD for my 2D machining. AT least until I have time to learn more about Fusion's CAM.