New Prius owner, looking for some general info.

Welcome.

Regarding the maintenance schedule, if the Maintenance and Warranty booklet is not in the glove compartment then you can find an online version here:
Toyota Vehicle Warranty - Toyota Vehicle Maintenance Schedules

You can do lots of things yourself if you wish to save money, for example the air filter and engine oil/oil filter changes. Do a search if you need help figuring that out.

Regarding your 33.4 mpg, this does seem low depending upon how long your trips are. If you drive very short trips then this is to be expected, since the mpg over the first five minutes is going to be ~25 mpg or so.

Check your tire inflation. Although the spec is for 35/33 psi many owners use a higher pressure consistent with the max cold inflation pressure on the tires' sidewalls. I use 44/42 psi.

Make sure that the engine oil level is not overfilled. It should not be above the top dimple on the engine oil dipstick.

Since you live in a very cold area, do a search for "grill block" to learn about how to restrict the flow of cold air past the radiator and the conditions where this is appropriate.

Since you live in an area with snow, check the condition of your tires. Minimum acceptable tread depth is 6/32" when driving in snowy conditions. If you have any doubt about your tires, it would be wise to replace them rather than have them be the cause of an accident. You can search for lots of recommendations here regarding appropriate tires depending upon your locale and driving conditions. Good luck.

 

Nice grandma.

 

My personal experience is that the car's performance is sensitive to variations in the tire pressure. Check it often (which is soemthing you should really be doing in all cars anyway).

 

Can someone post that link to the Prius questionnaire? To help diagnose low mileage issues it helps to know about the driving profile since that makes such a big difference.

But as Patrick wrote, ensure tires are inflated at least to the door ratings.

 

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html

 

It's really great to know how to use a glide for slowing down, or as part of a driving technique.

For me I find it especially helpful to think of the math. If when you have your foot on the gas (the pulse) you see about 20 mpg, and then glide for the same distance you pulsed, you'll get 40 mpg. If you glide twice as long as you originally pulsed, you get 60 mpg, and so on. If you're able to average then just 30 mpg when you have your foot on the gas (not too hard to do compared to 20 mpg), and glide for the same distance as you pulsed, you get 60 mpg, and if you glide twice as long...90 mpg!

I recently got a Prius myself, and with so much info on grill blocking packed into this forum, let me share a nugget that took me awhile to figure out (by figure out I mean I had to ask and someone told me directly).

On the 2nd generation Prius like you have, it's safe to block the upper grill completely at lower temperatures, but never block the lower grill completely, particularly the third or so of the lower grill on the driver's side.

You should still read more about that in other threads, but just fyi.