A study to get better vehicle fuel economy is described based on an express bus. The approach is based on using a commercial software vehicle simulation to identify the relative efficiency of each of the vehicle systems, such as the engine hardware, engine software calibration, transmission, cooling system and ancillary drives. The simulation-based approach offers a detailed understanding of which vehicle systems are underperforming and by how much the vehicle fuel economy can be improved if those systems are brought up to best-in-class performance. In this way, the optimum vehicle fuel economy can be provided to the vehicle customer. A further benefit is that the simulation requires only a minimum of vehicle testing for initial validation, with all subsequent field test cycles performed in software, thereby reducing development time and cost for the manufacturer.