i am now very close to purchasing a Greenline2, however i like to improve my cars in areas they fall short.

now i am very aware of what the greenline is intended for and i am buying it purely as a commuting tool so putting 18" porsche turbo alloys on it would be pointless as it would rob the car of 10mpg at least.

however making it look like a VRS shouldn't impact mpg, i quite like the rear bumper on the VRS, so my question is, how easily can the VRS front and rear bumpers be put onto the Greenline model, is it a simple bolt off then bolt on or are they not direct fits???

also i noticed that the Greenline is 15mm lower than the standard car and 10mm lower than the VRS, now if lower ride height means less drag and greater fuel economy then surely fitting coilovers and dropping the height by a decent 40mm extra would not only cure the excessive lean you get in the fabia but also have a positive effect on the mpg.

can anyone say for sure that a coilover kit for the normal fabia would fit fine on the greenline or is the suspension slightly different???

oh and do the mk2 fabia's gain drastically from a RARB like the mk1 fabia does

Sorry Sonner, dont see the point in buying a Greenline II then modding the crap out of it. You'll never be able to sell it on as I cant think of anyone who would want a Greenline II vRS lookalike. Will cost you a load of money to do the mods and a load in residual loss as Skoda main dealers would look at such modifications unfavourably.

Why not get yourself a diesel Monte Carlo instead? Will have the sporting look you are looking for along with decent economy. Will also be saleable in the future if you keep it more or less standard.

i am very good at hypermiling and spend £300 a month on fuel using a car that does 38mpg, the idea of changing to the greenline is to literally halve my fuel bills. and i KNOW i can get 80+ mpg from the car.

the only mods i want to do won't affect the mpg, and I will definately change to coilovers immediately but keep the original suspension and put it back on should i ever trade the vehicle back in.

I have already agreed to sell the car to my Mother after the 3yr finance for £5500 which will probably be below market value at a guess.

she wouldn't be bothered about the VRS look and i would put the standard suspension back on for her too.

Whenever i have modded cars i have always returned them to standard when selling them.

to reask the Question, do the front and rear VRS bumpers fit directly onto the other fabia models such as the greenline??

and is the suspension essentially just the shame as the standard cars but with shorter springs or have they altered it in other ways?

Just buy a 1.6 CR 105 Monte or Elegance with Sports suspension, I think it will suit your needs much better than a Greenline. The GL is a very good car and I wont knock it but with the CR you'll still get 60 odd MPG and a wedge more performance for not a great deal more money.

For someone wanting a very eco focused Fabia with a bit of performance the 1.6 CR 105 is definitely the sweet spot of the range. Particularly with the miles you are covering I think the 1.2 TDi will become a bit laborious, particularly on long motorway runs.

nothing can be more laborious to commute in than a Fabia 6Y 1.4 8v comfort(temporary vehicle) with slight wheel wobble and no stereo. i stick to a firm 45-50mph the whole way on A roads and dual carriageways with nice little queues building up behind me. 75mile round trip=approx 2hrs in the car everyday.

i don't want to put coilovers on the car cos i have some sort of need for speed issue, it's to do with hypermiling.....

not having to slow for roundabouts and keeping the car in top gear is a great way of reducing fuel consumption, there are certain roundabouts on the way to work that i take at 45-50mph meaning i do not change speed at all, whereas some people will brake down to 30mph for the roundabout then accelerate back up to 50mph... just wasteful

now fabias are known to lean and roll a little bit more than some other small hatchbacks i can think of, all i wish to do is to remedy that along with reducing drag by lowering the car a fair bit too.

over a year there is a big difference in cost between a 65mpg car and a 80mpg car

i would spend £1552.50 per year in an 80mpg vehicle

i would spend £1910.76 per year in an 65mpg vehicle

over a three year period i would save a total of £1074.80 in the 80mpg vehicle. add to that £0 road tax which is another big pull and cheaper insurance(im only 22yrs old)

i have a 241bhp Porsche for when i want to go fast, and if i fancy a bit of a rag to work then i take my MR2 roadster which if i'm travelling early in the morning i tend not to drop below 70mph the whole way to work....

i'm a bit of a schzophrenic driver, i spend 90%of my time behind the wheel being overtaken for driving too slowly and the other 10% of the time sideways or facing oncoming traffic.

if i only had one car to run and needed it to entertain me and commute me and trackday me then i would get a VRS mk1 or mk2 but i'm in the position where i can have a car for each specific use. thats why i want the Greenline 2....with coilovers and maybe a RARB

As far as i know the bodywork should be identical mounting wise as for the suspension only the 1.6,1.9 and vrs have different springs and dampers because they dont use integral hubs and carriers

so any kit that fits the 1.2 (htp/tsi etc) and 1.4 should fit although it wont lower the cars as noticeably on the greenline as its already lower

thanks Duffman,

i already checked and the ground clearance on the Greenline is 119mm

standard cars(inc monte carlo) are 134mm, VRS 129mm

the coilovers i found lower the standard cars by 30-70mm

i could probably trial a 45mm drop initially to see how the mpg is affected, if it's benefitting then i might try 55mm overall drop, which i would consider is the most possible as the Greenline is already 15mm lower.

so i would be looking at ground clearance first of 89mm and maybe trial 79mm if mpg if benfitting.

if the kit is designed for stanard models and lower by 30-70mm then the lowest the kit was designed for would be 64mm clearance, however i wouldn't go this low.

One thing i noticed, that quite impressed me on the Greenline model which the MONTE CARLO doesn't have..... infact only the VRS model has

I pay less for my Greenline than a Monte Carlo but get rear DISC brakes instead of the rear drums on the Monte Carlo

nothing can be more laborious to commute in than a Fabia 6Y 1.4 8v comfort(temporary vehicle) with slight wheel wobble and no stereo. i stick to a firm 45-50mph the whole way on A roads and dual carriageways with nice little queues building up behind me. 75mile round trip=approx 2hrs in the car everyday.

i don't want to put coilovers on the car cos i have some sort of need for speed issue, it's to do with hypermiling.....

not having to slow for roundabouts and keeping the car in top gear is a great way of reducing fuel consumption, there are certain roundabouts on the way to work that i take at 45-50mph meaning i do not change speed at all, whereas some people will brake down to 30mph for the roundabout then accelerate back up to 50mph... just wasteful

now fabias are known to lean and roll a little bit more than some other small hatchbacks i can think of, all i wish to do is to remedy that along with reducing drag by lowering the car a fair bit too.

over a year there is a big difference in cost between a 65mpg car and a 80mpg car

i would spend £1552.50 per year in an 80mpg vehicle

i would spend £1910.76 per year in an 65mpg vehicle

over a three year period i would save a total of £1074.80 in the 80mpg vehicle. add to that £0 road tax which is another big pull and cheaper insurance(im only 22yrs old)

i have a 241bhp Porsche for when i want to go fast, and if i fancy a bit of a rag to work then i take my MR2 roadster which if i'm travelling early in the morning i tend not to drop below 70mph the whole way to work....

i'm a bit of a schzophrenic driver, i spend 90%of my time behind the wheel being overtaken for driving too slowly and the other 10% of the time sideways or facing oncoming traffic.

if i only had one car to run and needed it to entertain me and commute me and trackday me then i would get a VRS mk1 or mk2 but i'm in the position where i can have a car for each specific use. thats why i want the Greenline 2....with coilovers and maybe a RARB

Mate your money so obviously do what you want, lowering the car and installing a RARB will do nothing to improve it. The ride will suffer and it won't handle significantly better (particularly on the standard wheels and tyres) to justify the cost.

On another note what you describe by "hypermiling" actually sounds pretty dangerous and in my opinion a bit reckless. Crossing a roundabout probably 20mph too fast in completely the wrong gear just to save some fuel (which is probably a false economy anyway) is very daft. You've only got to have some idiot pull out in front of you and I can guarantee theres absolutely no way in hell you're gonna stop and not hit them. You could seriously injure or kill yourself/the other party or both. Even if it's technically not your fault thats something you've got to live with. Don't think you'll care too much about your MPG then. You'd probably get better MPG out of your existing car if you drove more consistently rather than being Driving Miss Daisy one minute then Ralf Schumacher the next.

The sensible part of me would say happily buy a GL, but if you do be respectful to it and keep it standard. If you molest the car by modding it I can guarantee it wont improve its eco credentials, Skoda have done all they can with it as it is. If you want a really frugal car that also performs well (lets face it much better than a GL - the 1.2 TDi is good but by no means quick) buy a CR 105.

Put it this way, my partner got 68mpg out of my 2.0 TDi CR 140 Golf GT the other day which incidentally has no Bluemotion tech on it at all, she was driving sensibly but not slowly. If my Golf can achieve this (only supposed to be able to do 58) I would imagine a CR 105 could achieve 75+ MPG no problem which is loads better than the 1.4 Fabia you drive now. I certainly wouldnt be complaining to be getting 600+ miles from a tank of diesel every fill without getting bored in the process.

I've been studying the figures on the 1.2tdi 75ps 3cylinder and the 1.6tdi cr 4cylinder

firstly the 0-60mph figures

the monte carlo 1.6tdi cr 75ps 14.1secs however top speed is 104mph

greenline 2 1.2tdi 75ps 14.2secs and top speed here is 107mph

the Greenline 2 does have 15nm less of torque but 180nm is still a decent figure.

the Monte Carlo 1.6tdi 75ps is £400 more than the greenline 2

to get the 105bhp Monte Carlo model i have to spend an extra £1300 over the Greenline then as mentioned early another £1000 on diesel in the next 3yrs. sorry pipsy but i can't justify it.

a set of coilovers(cheap ones) and a RARB won't set me back more than £600 and i will sell them after the three yrs for a few bob i imagine....

i did think alot before i made my decision.

x x

Hypermiling although ultimately means slow speeds is far from the safest way to drive a car and i hear you on the possible dangers of entering roundabouts 20mph more than the rest of the traffic.

Hypermiling is all about accelerating as little as possible, hardly ever touching the brake, minimising gear changes and staying at constant speeds.

most of this can be achieved by simply keeping a huge gap between yourself and the car infront. or going slower than the average traffic speed meaning that when i do approach a roundabout at speed there is more often than not nothing infront of me to slow down for and i can zoom over the roundabout.

i admit that this doesn't sound safe and i know i'm only 22yrs old and still have plenty to learn but i have managed to cover over 100,000miles in cars over the last 5yrs i have been driving and managed to be accident free so i've either been very lucky so far or am a safer driver than described above

I've been studying the figures on the 1.2tdi 75ps 3cylinder and the 1.6tdi cr 4cylinder

firstly the 0-60mph figures

the monte carlo 1.6tdi cr 75ps 14.1secs however top speed is 104mph

greenline 2 1.2tdi 75ps 14.2secs and top speed here is 107mph

the Greenline 2 does have 15nm less of torque but 180nm is still a decent figure.

the Monte Carlo 1.6tdi 75ps is £400 more than the greenline 2

to get the 105bhp Monte Carlo model i have to spend an extra £1300 over the Greenline then as mentioned early another £1000 on diesel in the next 3yrs. sorry pipsy but i can't justify it.

a set of coilovers(cheap ones) and a RARB won't set me back more than £600 and i will sell them after the three yrs for a few bob i imagine....

i did think alot before i made my decision.

x x

Fair enough, like I said your money and your choice. Why not look at an SE then, considerably cheaper than the Monte and Elegance.

I promise you unless you drive it at 56mph everywhere it will not do anything near the advertised MPG, might have v long gearing but you're still working that little 1.2 hard at motorway speeds. The 1.6 is a much better long distance motorway car, the difference in real world MPG isnt going to break the bank either.

I'm pretty sure the bumpers would be interchangable.

However, I like the look of the GL2 as it already has an aero kit including a small front splitter, which the regular Fabia doesn't have.

So I'm not sure what you'd be gaining by changing the bumpers. It still wouldn't look like a VRS as that has different wheels etc.. and with 15" rims the VRS look-a-like would appear a bit odd.

Putting on a less efficient areo package could also hurt your mpg figure so would kind of question the reason for buying a GL2 in the first place.

Also when quoting ground clearance and referencing that to how much the suspension has been dropped, make sure the GL2 doesn't have any form of undertray to reduce drag. As this could naff up your calculations.

As most things, it's down to what you want though. I certainly can't see the point of getting a regular 1.6 deisel Fabi over the GL2 becuase I know what I want from my car and what I use it for. The GL2 is a great mile muncher.

I also like the fact that it comes with extra things like ESP which is an option on everthing other than a VRS... at additional cost.

Hypermiling although ultimately means slow speeds is far from the safest way to drive a car and i hear you on the possible dangers of entering roundabouts 20mph more than the rest of the traffic.

Hypermiling is all about accelerating as little as possible, hardly ever touching the brake, minimising gear changes and staying at constant speeds.

most of this can be achieved by simply keeping a huge gap between yourself and the car infront. or going slower than the average traffic speed meaning that when i do approach a roundabout at speed there is more often than not nothing infront of me to slow down for and i can zoom over the roundabout.

i admit that this doesn't sound safe and i know i'm only 22yrs old and still have plenty to learn but i have managed to cover over 100,000miles in cars over the last 5yrs i have been driving and managed to be accident free so i've either been very lucky so far or am a safer driver than described above

Fair shout Sonner, we all learn something every day when on the roads, no one is perfect, i'm certainly not. Just from what you had written didnt seem all that safe. Sorry certainly wasnt trying to be condescending.

I'm pretty sure the bumpers would be interchangable.

However, I like the look of the GL2 as it already has an aero kit including a small front splitter, which the regular Fabia doesn't have.

So I'm not sure what you'd be gaining by changing the bumpers. It still wouldn't look like a VRS as that has different wheels etc.. and with 15" rims the VRS look-a-like would appear a bit odd.

Putting on a less efficient areo package could also hurt your mpg figure so would kind of question the reason for buying a GL2 in the first place.

Also when quoting ground clearance and referencing that to how much the suspension has been dropped, make sure the GL2 doesn't have any form of undertray to reduce drag. As this could naff up your calculations.

As most things, it's down to what you want though. I certainly can't see the point of getting a regular 1.6 deisel Fabi over the GL2 becuase I know what I want from my car and what I use it for. The GL2 is a great mile muncher.

I also like the fact that it comes with extra things like ESP which is an option on everthing other than a VRS... at additional cost.

Hi Richard,

Sorry but one thing I will say to that is that you have several other "everyday" cars. Living with a GL as a sole mode of transport, particularly if you cover very heavy mileage at motorway speeds in my mind isnt the most ideal set of circumstances.

I'm not knocking the GL, its a great product and obviously suits certain people (such as yourself) very well indeed but I'm sorry but i'll never agree with you that the 1.2 TDi 75ps is as good a mile muncher as a 90 or 105ps 1.6 CR. It's less powerful and nothing like as flexible, whilst its still comparably quite an expensive car to buy and for most people its probably not going to be significantly more economical than the 1.6 particularly if you have a liking for staying in the fast lane.

That it comes with ESP is very good but it does lack a bit of other spec as standard and the estate stragely cannot have certain options that the hatch can (unlike an SE on which it is based), that would really put me off buying one as I'd need an estate.

Hi Richard,

Sorry but one thing I will say to that is that you have several other "everyday" cars. Living with a GL as a sole mode of transport, particularly if you cover very heavy mileage at motorway speeds in my mind isnt the most ideal set of circumstances.

I'm not knocking the GL, its a great product and obviously suits certain people (such as yourself) very well indeed but I'm sorry but i'll never agree with you that the 1.2 TDi 75ps is as good a mile muncher as a 90 or 105ps 1.6 CR. It's less powerful and nothing like as flexible, whilst its still comparably quite an expensive car to buy and for most people its probably not going to be significantly more economical than the 1.6 particularly if you have a liking for staying in the fast lane.

That it comes with ESP is very good but it does lack a bit of other spec as standard and the estate stragely cannot have certain options that the hatch can (unlike an SE on which it is based), that would really put me off buying one as I'd need an estate.

Hi Pipsyp, (sorry, not sure of real name)

I think we had a similar discussion a few weeks back on another thread.

You are right about other vehicles, but I do over 400 miles a week in the GL2. It's my sensible everyday car.

Great package for the more economically minded of us who don't need the extra options of bendy headlights or alternative alloys.

The money I have saved on fuel is more than paying for the whole car over three years!

I agree though, if you like to stay in the fast overtaking lane the smallest engine in any model line up is probably not the one for you.

But for my use give me free VED and proven 70+mpg even though the engine is not run in yet.

(with the extra weight of a spare wheel and an estate too!)

i do 380miles a week commuting and a few extra to the gym and back which is a 28miles round trip.

for the record, when i drive down to Devon and back to visit my friends, i spend the whole 4hrs mostly on the A21 then M25 then M3 then A303

and i don't pip over 50mph the whole way, yes it does mean lorries are forever ovetaking me on the motorway but it saves me money... i travel at 47mph on the motorway normally.

Richard you are right the Greenline 2 does have underbody panels to reduce drag, and i see your point about the front bumper on the greenline 2 already being aerodynamically modified so maybe you and pipsy are right about the VRS lookalike, i wasn't particularly fussed about it anyway.

i am set in my thought about the coilovers though, but if they don't help reduce roll or damage comsumption then i will immediately put the standard stuff back on.

I think this thread turned into a bit of an arguement, but i got what i needed out of it, which was to be reminded that maybe sometimes cars should be left as they are.

thanks guys

Oh and Richard i am much in the same position as yourself in regards to the money i save on fuel more than pays for the car over the 3yrs too.

well the car would cost me £192 per month and i worked out if i average 76mpg then i save £150 per month leaving me with a £42 deficit per month

ut a brand new Fabia on my driveway instead of a £370 felicia.

and i'm sure the lack of road tax and the warranty covering any faults more than make-up for the other £42

With the coilovers do not go cheap if you really want to acheive a gain look at a decent set kw, h&r or similar cheap coils will be **** on commutes.

I had my kw v1s all the way down and still found them very comfortable.

On the other hand ive been in cars with jamex and even fk silverlines and found them horrifying with almost zero travel.

Im fitting weitecs to my vrs this weekend so will let you know what there like.

well there are some nice cheapo ones for £200 online

kw's are gonna set me back £600, that makes it one expensive experiment!!

Jamex ones are quite affordable... are they really that bad a quality....

having lived with an M sport Z4 for three months and 2000miles i'm pretty sure nothing can be worse than that.

also these cheap ones don't include pillow balls either so there should be a little absorbtion there too!

well put it this way, if the £200 collies reduce the roll and have a neutral or positive effect on mpg but give properly bad ride comfort then i might as well invest in a set of proper coilovers.

Hi Pipsyp, (sorry, not sure of real name)

I think we had a similar discussion a few weeks back on another thread.

You are right about other vehicles, but I do over 400 miles a week in the GL2. It's my sensible everyday car.

Great package for the more economically minded of us who don't need the extra options of bendy headlights or alternative alloys.

The money I have saved on fuel is more than paying for the whole car over three years!

I agree though, if you like to stay in the fast overtaking lane the smallest engine in any model line up is probably not the one for you.

But for my use give me free VED and proven 70+mpg even though the engine is not run in yet.

(with the extra weight of a spare wheel and an estate too!)

Hi Richard,

Indeed I think we did. Strangely I have seen two or three different 11 plate GL2's driving around the Oxford area and very smart they are too, I can certainly see their appeal. Still waiting for our vRS estate and just adds to the frustration haha!

Problem for me is that I'm used to driving bigger engined cars with much more torque, having had a string of 1.9 CDTi 150 Astra SRi XP's (not all that economical but rapid), a 1.9 TDi Golf Bluemotion (noisy but 600+ miles on a tank no matter how it was driven) and now a 2.0 TDi MK6 Golf I think i'd find a 1.2 TDi a bit strained. I've driven a 70ps 1.4 TDi Polo and absolutely hated it so may be I'm tarring the GL2 slightly (and probably unfairly) with the same brush.

I stil think if I were in the market for such a car I would still go with a 1.6 CR 105 purely because of the way I drive, I think the eco benefits of a GL2 would be lost on me as I do have a bit of a lead foot....this is even more evident by the fact I talked the missus round to buying the vRS :-) God I cannot wait now for that thing to turn up, build week 18 hopefully so should have it some time in May. Guess I'll forever be putting super unleaded in it but hopefully the smile factor will make up for the burning hole in the wallet. Have been hankering after a quick hot hatch for years, will actually be the quickest car I've owned.....funny I've had to get to the age of 30, get married and have a baby on the way for it to happen though!

Cheers

Paul

i do 380miles a week commuting and a few extra to the gym and back which is a 28miles round trip.

for the record, when i drive down to Devon and back to visit my friends, i spend the whole 4hrs mostly on the A21 then M25 then M3 then A303

and i don't pip over 50mph the whole way, yes it does mean lorries are forever ovetaking me on the motorway but it saves me money... i travel at 47mph on the motorway normally.

Richard you are right the Greenline 2 does have underbody panels to reduce drag, and i see your point about the front bumper on the greenline 2 already being aerodynamically modified so maybe you and pipsy are right about the VRS lookalike, i wasn't particularly fussed about it anyway.

i am set in my thought about the coilovers though, but if they don't help reduce roll or damage comsumption then i will immediately put the standard stuff back on.

I think this thread turned into a bit of an arguement, but i got what i needed out of it, which was to be reminded that maybe sometimes cars should be left as they are.

thanks guys

Hi Sonner,

Wasnt supposed to become an argument, I just honestly think you'll regret modding an eco car. It's not a remotely sporty car and its chassis wont respond well to a set of coilovers, I fear you'll just end up with a stupidly low looking standard car with no suspension compliancy all the while experiencing no gain to the cars already excellent MPG. I dont understand why you'd be bothered about body roll if you drive around at 50mph most places, theres very few bends that you'd have to brake really hard for at those speeds.

Why not save the 2-600 quid your planning on spending on coilovers and add that to your fuel savings pot?

I just feel I have to say this as I would hope someone would be there telling me the same if I were planning to do this. It's not a great idea; buy the car, keep it standard and revel in its amazing economy and decent levels of comfort for everyday use.

You travel at 47mph on the motorway? You need taking off the roads as you are a danger.

I'm guessing that you didn't drive at those speeds on dual carriageways for your driving test? You'd have been failed.

Ps you'll also find that 47mph is more than likely not the optimum speed to travel to maximise fuel economy.