As a follow up especially after having tried and loved new 2019 model bike and seen how much better it was than my 1980's vintage bikes the thought came to my mind is that there is no such thing as a bad bike.
Maybe as others have said a highly specialized, custom build bike that is really good at one thing but comes with various pitfalls might not be recommended but that goes with everything that is so angular, limited in appeal, expensive and focused. As a whole, I think most modern general purpose road, gravel or hybrid bikes are so amazingly good even starting at the lower price ranges that it's hard to go wrong no matter what you buy.