Road bike recommendations

I've had carbon, steel and alu (of varying degrees of quality). They are all bikes and I have enjoyed riding them all. Sometimes I am faster on the cheaper bikes, sometimes I am faster on the heavier bikes, sometimes I get dropped by people on shitter bikes.
I think on balance that frame materials make a lot less difference than people like to think.

I think the most important thing is (if you are not racing, in which case its a cost vs performance thing) that you like your bike and enjoy riding it.*Although, I do find that the less riding I do, the more I think about changing bikes or bike parts, when I'm riding a lot all I care about is how worn my tyres are and if the bike is clean.
If I catch myself thinking about a bike change it usually means I need a kick up the arse and to go out and ride more.

Embarrasingly enough my £300 beater steamroller is faster on my commute than my £1000 Cannondale roadie, i think it's down to the more aggressive riding position and not being able to cop out and coast along. I think unless youre racing it's all a much of a muchness. If I was buying a road bike again I'd definately go for decent alu and quality components that splashing out on carbon with a lesser groupset