Relating RPMs to FE

[atomicradish]

It's my knowledge that RPMs are almost always directly related to FE. If the engine is running at a higher RPM, it's going to burn more gas. But I have also seen posts contradicting this, notably concerning acceleration "sweet spots".

I bring this up because my car seems to run at a high RPM almost all of the time. At 65 mph in 5th gear it runs at 3100 RPMs, and around 2900 at 60 mph. In my Eagle, it would typically be around 2000 in 4th gear at 60 mph.. a difference of almost 1000. In fact, when driving Troy I rarely to never drive below 2k rpms, which in my old car used to be my maximum level for optimum FE.

I haven't had this car long enough to really establish a baseline, but out of general curiosity... is this normal? In every other car I've driven, 3k RPMs would be enough throttle for a hard acceleration, yet in this car it is a normal cruising speed. Normal acceleration in this car is anywhere from 3,500 to 4,000 RPM. I'm hoping that somehow my car is just an oddity, but it sure seems to suck down the gas for a 4 cylinder. Since this is the first standard shift car I've had, I assumed that it would run at an even lower cruising rpm since it has 5th gear... what gives?

Does Mitsubishi gear all of their cars this high?