One year mileage

I'd cry if I had your numbers. I'm bummed because my last two tanks (covering this month) were 50.2 & 51.2. When I burned 232.322 gallons I went 12401 miles. Grill blocked? What's your tire pressure?

 

I'd jump for joy if I had your last two tanks. My December should be avg 42mpg. My best summer tank was 58mpg hand calc'ed. It's tough on cars to be north of 49.

 

Route management. Avoid congested or high speed roads in favor of more moderate & steady speeds. I now take a county road that runs roughly parallel to the US highway & has 2 less stops. It's zoned 35-45mph while US130 is zoned 50. Almost always I have the road to myself compared to lots of traffic.

Block the grill. Tony started the definitive thread.

Tire pressure is max sidewall. Improves handling, wear, & fuel economy.

Buy a ScanGauge so you can see what's happening.

The heated seats don't seem to affect FE. I keep the temp at 72 or 73 with the fan on the lowest settings.

For quick stops (5-10 minutes) I park the car & leave it on. manually lock the door.

My commute is ~35miles. Now what I lose in the AM I can pretty much get back in the PM & usually a bit more.

My car also lives outside. Recent takes have gone from 56 (November) to 53 (early December).

 

Take a look at the "sticky" thread on Full Year Fuel Economy in this thread (and post your numbers there too).
You will see that I'm about where you are, and we are both somewhat below average in this group of Prius nuts. But we're not at the bottom.
Plus, this is by far the best mileage I've ever gotten.
All of the advice you've gotten is good for improving mileage. You won't be surprised to find I don't take a lot of it because I don't like going that much slower.
(I do take some of the non-speed advice, especially about tires. And I've slowed down about 1 or 2 mph on freeways on average.)
Overall, I'm not crying.

 

My hydroedges are rated for 44lbs, and I don't run 'em any lower


of course, when the Gen II is driving in Montana winters, that knocks about 30mpg off the top. All that said ... practice practice practice ... and grill block ... and EBH.
You're off to a good start!

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what is grill block????

 

It's a bit different on the Gen III ... but on Gen II's you simply buy a few feet of 3/4" copper water line foam insulation and stuff it in between the grill slits ... effectively stopping cold air from entering the radiator. This quickens/helps the ICE maintain temps on cold days ... even on cold palm springs winter mornings. Your very worst MPG's happen within the 1st 5-10 minutes of driving. The quicker/easier the Prius warms up (and stays warm) the better your mpg's.