Haven't tried an R...
But the Honda POS I drive on a daily basis revs WAYYYY too high, even when just cruising... When you accelerate, it just sounds like it's making noise... Nothing else... 3500RPM whilst "cruising" at 100km/h and that's in 5th!
1st is really short, then second is uber tall compared to 1st, but not 'too' bad... then 3rd is just a bit taller then 2nd, but enough so that if you get below 4000RPM it won't go any where...