I honestly think you'll like the ride quality from a Roubiax, given the FutureShock and carbon frame. You should be definitely fine with Tiagra; my concern in this trim is weight, in stock form I think the bike would be 20 lbs. If you're one to upgrade things, I'd make sure to find some decent lightweight wheels. The stock R470's are bulletproof but feels like a steamroller.

I'm with you that you'd think that anything going up to and past the $3k mark should have better components. However due to the pandemic and supply chain issues, the prices have dramatically increased. All in all, it seems like all bikes had bumped up $1000 vs. the previous year.