Honestly, it all depends on what you want out of the bike. Considering your garage currently I see it being kind of hard to fit it in there. It'll be more sporty than the ST, yet not nearly as comfortable for taking on trips. It's very comfortable by sportbike standards though.
I get about 165 miles before the light comes on and that leaves me with about 40 more miles to go. I'm getting about 38 mpg on average on my Gen I. The second gen bike has a smaller tank so you'll be stopping to stretch your legs and fill up a bit more often.
As far as the windshield. You can stay with stock, or you can go with many other options. The most expensive, and what seems to be the most popular is the MRA Vario Touring screen. I don't have that one, but here's the two I do have.
This is my Cee Bailey touring screen. I use it in the winter time because I get almost ZERO airflow behind it. Not so good in the summertime though as it's so stll the air in the helmet gets hot and stale.
In the summertime I picked up this Puig sport screen and I really like it. I wasn't sure about it at first due to the buffeting and amount of wind hitting my helmet. But all that was mainly the difference coming from the touring screen. After a full summer of commuting I don't even notice the wind anymore.
Pilot Road 2 tires will last a long time and seem to work very well on this bike.
This was my first naked sportbike with handlebars. I will NEVER go back to a fully faired sportbike with clipons for the street again. It rocks everything I've thrown at it and I can't wait to get it on the track. I'm very comfortable on the bike and I have to say, I really don't see a bike out there that would replace it for being my "do it all" bike. Maybe a Tuono, but that's money I don't have.
Every day I ride this bike, I love it a little bit more. At almost 50k miles (I've only put about 9k on there) it's not burning any oil and all maintenance has been very easy.
Here's my current daily commuter setup and it works very very well.
Any other questions, feel free to ask.