Avoid the Taurus!!
For 9mm? Are you insane? For security reasons, I can't talk deeply about my inventory but sufficient to say, pretty much all of the main stream handgun manufacturers who aren't targeting the Saturday Night Special crowd make good weapons for their price. They have to because the competition and tight margins would immediately close their doors. Furthermore, in terms of mainstream handguns, the design is influenced, in large part, to performance specifications for military and law enforcement so these guns are all excellent performing devices.
The difference therefore is in the gimmicks and features that differentiate one brand from another. Taurus has a penchant for making lots of changes to their guns on the fly in mid production so the gun purchased at the end of the run isn't the same as one at the start of a run. This makes it difficult for third party manufacturers to cobble up geegaws to festoon one's weapon. If I had a criticism for Taurus it would be that. If I want cheap magazines I would get Glock. If I wanted to add profoundly expensive barrel attachments, magazines or sights I would go H&K. But the only reason I would go H&K is for Poser reasons not because H&K is worth the difference in price.
Why I like and carry Taurus is that they make the best Titanium guns out there provided you don't need ambidextrous safety or care to swap out the stock sights.
The OP said "carry" was a motivating concern. The high capacity magazine of the compact Titanium Taurus weighs more than the gun itself. Use round selection to moderate and control barrel flip, flash, recoil and other performance concerns like one would do with any other gun. As a bicyclist weight is a concern and Titanium has great resistance to sweat and the elements like Stainless without the weight and shine.
On occasion, I like the Taurus Titanium .45LC as it is even lighter and has a real large muzzle for that urine-down-both-pant-legs effect on the perp.
For those who want a child-friendly firearm, one Taurus gimmick is the key lockable firing pin - a total security hazard and hassle for dealing with that bump in the night, but a great way to be able to leave a loaded handgun laying around without little Johnny putting rounds down-range or into his sister's head.
Is it a good gun for the range? No. Neither is any other summer concealable compact. Other than plowing through a magazine or two of familiarity fire using the rounds intended for the street, for pleasure use a full size for working on fundamentals that can't be legally practiced in the living room. (unless of course your neighborhood association has no problems with firing rounds out the window into a target out in the yard.)
Everyone brags about how their favorite piece fires great out of the box. So what? Same thing with my Taurus. If I were to be picky about a 9mm beyond the gimmicks a particular manufacturer offers, I would be thinking about springs and ammo selection to perfectly match the firearm to the way I want to shoot. In that respect you have a point of avoiding Taurus because springs are made of unobtanium. But then again, who is so anal retentive about perfecting the right gun/spring/ammo combination that they aren't going to personally handle every brand imaginable on the range before making their decision?
FWIW, I sleep with a Desert Eagle .50AE knowing that whatever comes through the door, body armour or not, its going down, and considering the muzzle flash, will probably go down while on fire. If my ears are going to bleed from the noise and concussion, so is everyone elses.