Our cousins over in the Land of the Long White Cloud (aka Middle Earth) have crowned Hyundai’s diesel-drinking Santa Fe as the most fuel efficient large SUV after it scored top spot in its class at the AA Energywise economy rally.

The rally, which covers 1641 kilometres in four days of solid driving, aimed to sort out which manufacturer had the most efficient vehicle in a number of different classes. With a final average consumption of just 5.9 litres of the black stuff per 100km travelled, and relatively low CO2 emissions of 157g/km, the 2.2-litre Santa Fe rose above the rest of the competing SUVs like the Honda CR-V and Volkswagen Tiguan.

“We’re thrilled with the result, especially how the Santa Fe did better than many smaller cars from the classes below. That our large Santa Fe is as cheap to run per kilometre as a medium sized sedan shows the ability of Hyundai’s world class Diesel technology to power a much larger and usable vehicle yet still return outstanding fuel economy,” a Hyundai spokesperson said.

Hyundai also scored wins in other classes too, with the Grandeur clinching gold in the Large Luxury Class and the i30 hatchback scoring second place in the Compact Class.