Why are cars geared so low?

[darxus]

For a given speed, the higher the gear you're in, the less gas you burn.

I can drive 30mph in my Accord in fifth gear comfortably on a level road.

I'm sure the relationship isn't entirely linear, but that should mean I'm burning roughly twice as much gas as necessary at 65mph only because of how low the top gear is.

Why?

Comments

[feng-huang.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it's because cars are much heavier than motorcycles, so they need more torque at lower speeds.