New Year's Eve in Auckland City: the last cars are hybrids
Auckland finds its summer stride in the last week of December, all long light and salt air, and the Sky Tower fireworks pull a massive crowd down to the waterfront on the 31st. Families pack Mission Bay, holiday traffic noses north toward the Coromandel, and the city stays loud well past the kids' bedtime. This is peak week for car hire in Auckland City, and our 31 December to 7 January sweep shows how tight it gets. Twelve listings came back, priced on just two vehicles.
Ezi is the only supplier with anything still on the lot, so the usual comparison shopping collapses into a single decision. Their Corolla Cross Hybrid asks $1155 for the week and the RAV4 Hybrid $1687, which puts the median quote at $1421 and leaves $532 between the last two cars in the fleet. The smart move is to grab the Corolla Cross now and spend the savings on ferry tickets and fish and chips.
Hybrids make up seven of the twelve vehicles and eleven of the twelve seat five, so a family of four with bags and boogie boards fits easily for the run out to Piha or Muriwai. The lone seven-seater is the scarcest car in this window, so commit early if you need one. Pick up a day before the 31st if you can, because New Year's Eve traffic between the airport and the harbour bridge is a rite of passage nobody asks for.