To answer your original questions:

• I noticed that when importing objects, the various meshes that make up the model are appended with the texture name from the program they were modeled in. So is this more likely to be an export setting in Wings3D or an import setting in Carrara? Export setting in originating program
• Is there a way to select faces from existing edge or vertex selection in the Carrara modeler? I do this alot in Wings, and thought something obviously useful would be more common. I figured I could touch up shading domains this way. Carrara does not have a convert-to option. Wish it did.
• Is the modeling room normally that slow? Or is it just because I'm using an old version? (I haven't upgraded from 5.1 just yet. I've got to find the newer mag still.) I thought heavy meshes slowed my primary modeling app, but sheesh! It could be your system, it could be Carrara. Carrara 6+ has some significant improvements to the vertex operations. Obviously, meshes with more polygons take more processing power, so the most efficient way is to model low res in Carrara and use the Smooth function (kind of like Hyper nurbs) for render-time high res models.