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Hyundai entered two, 2.2-litre diesel Santa Fe CRDi's in the Eco Challenge section of the 2009 Global Green Challenge that caters to production cars. Photo Gallery
The difference between a great result and a bloody brilliant one is about 30 years of rally experience, I discovered as the 3000km Global Green Challenge rolled into Adelaide.
Driving Hyundai's new Santa Fe diesel we had a spectacularly good run on the leg from Port Augusta to Adelaide thanks to a handy tail wind, a distance of just over 300km. A figure of 4.9 litres per 100km is an impressive achievement for a wagon that weighs almost two tonnes, but still not as good as the one achieved by Mitsubishi rally great Ed Ordynski who brought his vehicle home with just 4.8 on the trip computer. Bugger.
Hyundai entered two, 2.2-litre diesel Santa Fe CRDi's in the Eco Challenge section of the event that caters to production cars. It's run in tandem with the famous World Solar Challenge out of which the event grew a couple of years ago.
It took the two Hyundais six days to drive from Darwin to Adelaide, with the longest leg between Alice Springs and Coober Pedy 685km. It might not sound that far, but at a speed of around 75km/h the journey starts to take on epic proportions, especially with no air conditioning and an ambient temperature nudging 40 degrees.
It turned that particular leg into 9.25 hours of living hell. You can't use air conditioning because it eats into the fuel consumption. Now, no one in their right mind is going to drive that far in those conditions without air, but it shows what can be achieved if you try hard enough.
The two Santa Fe's were neck and neck for most of the way, averaging between 4.8 and 5.4 litres/100km each day, with only a tenth of a point separating them. It led to some good natured rivalry as the teams vied to see who would record the greatest improvement in fuel consumption (the Santa Fe is rated at 6.7 litres/100km).
While the the rally driver may have won the day, it's the journalist that gets to have the last word. "We was robbed,'' springs to mind. Ordynski had had some practice conserving fuel on the transport stages of rallies, where he'd managed to achieve 8.5 litres/100km instead of the outrageous 100 litres/100km that the car consumed in competition.
Records tumbled and the rules evolved as the Green Challenge unfolded. Japan's Tokai University team took out the Solar Challenge while the Tesla sports car set a new record of 501km for the greatest distance travelled by an electric car between charges.
Incredibly, it was HSV's Maloo ute that was declared the winner of the Eco Challenge with a figure of 7.74 litres/100km, while Ford's Fiesta EcoNETIC recorded the lowest fuel consumption slipping below 3.0 litres/100km.
The winner was the entry that recorded the most improvement and while the Maloo may have done that, it also used the most fuel and produced the most carbon emissions. Hyundai was elated to claim the crown as the most economical SUV after Ordynski's car finished a fraction ahead of the Kia Sorento at 5.1 litres versus 5.17 litres/100km _ a 24 per cent improvement.
The other car piloted by myself and other Carsguide journos finished with 5.35 litres/100km. The Kia and the Hyundai share the same 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine and transmissions, but the Kia is lighter and has a better wind drag co-efficient.
The event concluded with a three hour urban leg around the streets of Adelaide.
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