Originally Posted By: nfs480
The rpms should not be a factor for determining gas mileage
That's just not true, otherwise we wouldn't have overdrive transmissions. Its also easy to disprove- burn a tank of gas in your Accord while running it in its highest gear (overdrive) on the highway. Then repeat the experiment limiting yourself to one gear lower (direct gear). You'll see that you burn significantly more fuel in direct than in overdrive.
Its true that for certain engine/car combos you can hurt the mileage by "lugging" the engine too low. A lot depends on where the cam grind installed in the engine is most efficient at scavenging without wasting fuel out the exhaust, and of course combustion chamber shape and its effect on flame propagation is very important.
But in general, its more efficient to turn the engine slower, run LESS spark advance, and operate at higher intake manifold pressure to fill the cylinders and minimize scavenging to fill. Less spark advance means less time that the flame front spends working against the piston. Higher intake manifold pressure serves to raise the cylinder starting pressure so that the flame front can complete the burn before the exhaust valve opens even with less spark advance, and it also fills the cylinder effectively. Reducing reliance on scavenging helps prevent blowing unburned air/fuel mix out the exhaust valve during overlap.
Friction in the engine is largely independent of RPM, so it takes the same torque to spin the engine against its internal friction at high RPM as low. But power is proportional to torque times RPM, so the power wasted to engine friction does go up linearly with RPM. Another reason to turn the engine slower.