Will say this about Al, I love Al bikes and only second to carbon for performance. A very close second btw and pretty transparent in any race where only the rider will make the difference and not the bike.

I recently had an rust issue with my Specialized Secteur emanating from under the paint. 4 years old. I live near the beach in salty air and also sweat a lot on the bike. Specialized would have honored the warranty but I wasn't the original owner. They conceded there was a problem with the frame and as a result because I know the mechanic at the shop he worked with Specialized to cut me a smoking deal on the latest Allez Elite frameset. This bike is now rebuilt with Campy and I use it for causal riding with rack and honestly it is almost as fast as my carbon bike. Almost nothing between them. The new Allez Elite with endurance geometry is simply outstanding. All of the top Al bikes are OP...Trek Al Emonda, Al Synapse, CAAD12, Giant...all the top brands make great Al bikes. I don't want to explore the lower end offerings per your question. I want the engineering of the top makers and willing to pay just a bit more...still $1K less than equivalent carbon models.

Here is a video review of the new frameset I have...same matte black with white decal color as well. Love the bike. I like Specialized but honestly I don't believe there is much between all the big brand Al bikes. My suggestion is save for higher end Al offerings and choose which model based upon your riding preference...the Allez Sprint is an outstanding crit bike for example...basically an Al Tarmac.