I did it!
 

I sold my POS Silverado and got a 2004 Pontiac Sunfire last month. It's a 2.2L Ecotech with a 5 speed manual... I so missed shifting my own gears. Haven't had the time to do anything to it except I found a front strut brace for $30 on ebay. It doesn't do anything for mileage, but it really firmed up the steering.
So far using some hypermiling techniques I was able to get right at 40 MPG. I'm lucky to be right near the interstate. I figure right now going from 17.8 MPG to 40 MPG is the ultimate eco-mod but just like any project it'll never be done.
More to come.

Right on, man. Totally. Figure out how long before the car pays for itself, relative to your old guzzler?

Congratulations on the more efficient vehicle.

Congrats! Don't forget to update you EM Garage. I had the same motor/trans in my 2003 Cavalier coupe and I liked it, although it did struggle up hills.

It's going to be a couple of years before the Sunfire pays for itself. Because of rust, hail damage and a lot of other things wrong with the Silverado I didn't get that much for trade in. It'll take a couple of years since I'm saving about $100/mo right now... if gas goes up then it'll take less time doing nothing with ecomods.

Thanks guys. How did your Cavalier struggle up hills? Did you just keep it in 5th when going up steep hills... on the interstate I'm going 62 max then up a hill it's going down to 55. Thankfully I go to work at night so I don't get run over.:)

Congrats on the mileage. Just one question, did yu fully check out the suspension / alignment before getting the brace ?

I only tap this as I spent a small fortune on uprated this and that on Helga (tyres, bushes, new dampers, tracking (front end alignment) etc.) before finally springing for a "proper" full 2 axle alignment which made more difference than anything else I had done.

All but having an alignment machine in my back pocket, yes. Prior to even going in the dealership I tried to wiggle the tires vertically, horizontally both were solid. I checked the tie rod ends directly (solid). The rack and opinion is tight and no leaks. Test driving the car it tracked straight. As far as the rest of the suspension, one of the struts are going bad on the front, but it’s still tolerable. When I bounce the front end it’s taking 3 bounces instead of only 2. Also, the good thing and the bad thing about the Sunfire it has a solid rear axle. I’m guessing your Fabia has a independent rear suspension thats why you needed a 4 wheel alignment. You can only get a 2 wheel alignment for the J body. It’s crude but it works and it’s cheaper to maintain. If the car was in a wreck they did a good job of hiding it because there are no crinkles in the under side of the car and the carfax (3rd party car check) was clean.
I knew going into the deal that Gm J-bodies (Cavalier/Sunfire) rear drum brakes have a lot of problems and the front brake rotors from the factory are too thin to begin with (they warp really easy). In the vehicle manual it showed the tires were somewhat new (3k miles put on them) and it recently had a brake job done. I haven’t checked to see if the brake fluid needs flushed, but I think I’ll be good for a while on the braking system and the tires.
The reason why I put the front strut tower bar on was really because this is an SE and the strut tower bar was cheap and well made. SE’s are base as base can get on newer cars in America (although, I do have a factory radio that I never use). The J bodies I’ve owned are ’97 Z24 Cavalier, 2004 Cavalier Sport and my wife had a 2001 Sunfire GT. I’m used to having the tight handling of the performance (I hate using that word on a fwd 4 cyl. car) versions of the cars. The strut tower bar brought the Sunfire almost up to that standard.

Congrats on the new car. I got one recently also and I'm pleased with the mpg. I haven't gotten 40mpg yet but I haven't done anything to it yet (except seal the hood /grill gap). Power wise I think it's pretty good, I've never been afraid of being run over.

I've been wanting to look for someone with another car like mine and see what they have done. I'd like to take the rear spoiler off but wondering how to do it so it doesn't look like crap.

I haven't done anything to mine either (to increase gas mileage) it's just mostly highway to work and back and I'm only going 62 mph on the interstate instead of 70.

How did you seal the hood and grill gap? Do you have pictures?