This would be a good experience to witness, because the trivial things being done to push a 200mpg segment and a tank of around 170mpg can be useful for everyday driving. Obvious things are proper tire inflation, coasting instead of charging to intersections, keep junk out of the car, keep accelerations to a minimum, etc....
For those of you paying attention to a routing work commute, the way you accelerate onto the freeway can impact your the mpg for the trip very significantly. On the marathon, the acceleration for the pulse and glide was down to:
- start engine at 18km, put in 2nd gear
- accelerate with little to no assist in 2nd gear to 28-30km
- shift to 3rd
- cut engine and glide by 45km
- this will vary going up hills or in the wind...
Wind and cooler temperatures affected the fuel economy.
The typical driver does not bother with such, but if they did, they could get significantly better milage and not necessarily take longer to arrive.