My only bike is a Dawes Galaxy which I use for a 24 mile round trip commute, the load carrying is brilliant, but I haven't got anything to compare it to, so I take it for granted! I'd like a natty road bike, but my delicate sensibilites would be rather offended by not having mudguards and not being able to pick up gallons of milk on the way home!
I bought my galaxy cheap and second hand so as not to worry about it, but then got carried away and spent too much on building it up, so I'm scared to leave it anywhere! So I'm putting together an old 531 steel hack bike now, which I want to keep simple like an old racer and use for commuting to gigs and museums, I think the tourer/road bike combination will work really well...