Which is the BEST driving cart
 

Looking for an electric cart and Mom wants the best RIDE and Dad wants the best driving. Help me help them! Looking at used if possible.

I would suggest stopping at Village Discount Golf Car on 466.......they have many years and models and you can drive them.

Ezgo electric

Carts
 

Comment: We got EZGO from AGC carts in Wildwood. Be sure it is the group that was near Bonefish Grill. We hear that on 466 just east of Morse is the cart shop that is local and well liked. Be VERY careful.
Be sure for the first year, they come to you at no cost.
Uh, there are other things, a lot to consider and be very careful. If a local salesperson tells you something, remember this IT IS HIS OPINION AND IT MAY BE WORTHLESS.
We are very happy with our EZGO and the service from
AGC carts, again,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Be patient and careful.TAKE YOUR TIME. Also look in the paper and on the TOTV website for by owner.

bbbbbb :welcome:

You are going to get so many opinions but in the end, you'd have to drive them to see what you like.
We've been here 13 years, mostly we liked our Club Cars the best. They just fit us right, were comfortable, responsive and reliable.

Our 2016 EZGo has really good suspension and is fun to drive compared to our 2017 Yamaha quiet tek gas cart. You can customize the seats. We’ve rode in ones with the adjustable bucket seats and those are very comfortable.

Mrs Fox's E-Z-GO drives very smoothly, whereas my Par Car is a bit more jerky. We both have standard size wheels/tires.

All the above plus the safest! Tomberlin Emerge

Must be a reason why Yamaha is the most prevalent cart in the villages

You will of course get a million different opinions
 

FOR MINE-sounds like your parents are quite capable of making their own decision. Do you really want to insert yourself into this debate? Riding in the nonexistent middle seat while they discuss you got the cart YOU WANTED AND........

None of the golf carts handle like a sports car or ride like a land cruiser car.

Having said that seats as well as tires make a big difference.

We've driven two 2017 Yamaha gas carts. They were loaners from Village Golf Carts. Once for an oil change, once for a repair. They were completely different. One was great handling the other was disturbing at best to drive. The bad one, went from understeer at the start of a turn to oversteer half way through a turn. REASON-I don't know. Tires???

Far are repairs form Villages Golf cart WE HAVE BEEN THRILLED. Great that they supply a loaner for a service as inexpensive as an oil change. The other time, our gold cart just stopped. They picked up our gold cart and brought it in charge was $20, The repair was a starter solenoid labor and diagnostic $18.00 part (solinoid-relay) abt $49.

Best to get two carts.

All I can say regarding the best ride is this: SPLURGE on luxury seats. (Plastic seats are horrible.) They're well worth it although expensive.

You are a great son. I think you may be on Mission Impossible. I remember your trials last year on the hunt for the correct cart. I wish you the best. :bigbow:

I agree. We ask our sons for their help/guidance frequently. They have more current knowledge in certain areas that we don't. They ask us for guidance on things we have more experience on. Works out well!

We have a 2012 ezgo electric and and 2017 yamaha. They both have strong points. The ezgo is better for my wife as she is 5' tall and fits better in the ezgo. She has to sit forward to reach the pedals in the yamaha. The electric accelerates far better than the gas cart and has no slow down on hills. We have upgraded seats in both carts. As for pure comfort, we had a 2000 Club Car ds and is was by far the easiest driving cart and very comfortable with just a standard seat. We use our ezgo for a lot of things, but mostly use the yamaha for golf as we usually go for food afterwards. We've driven almost 40 miles a couple of times and I feel more confident with the gas cart. That's not to say we haven't gone close to that in the ezgo or the club car we used to have. I wouldn't buy a 4- 12v battery configuration under any circumstances.

Sail41, I'm interested to know why you wouldn't buy a 4 12-volt configuration. I'm just starting to investigate carts and am interested in an electric. Appreciate if you would say why about the battery configuration.

If you can drive on a concrete path. The spaces between each slab will tell you how good the suspension is. Driving on a road will not tell you.

The more batteries you have allows you more juice to go further :gc:

Contrary to everyones opinion...you can not rely on someone else's idea of what is good for your parents. They have to try them out. Personally I do not recommend electric unless you don't have long to live or like spending $400 every 3 or 4 years for battery replacement...lack of speed up hills and driving distance issues. There is no opinion that will fit your parents except trying them out. Everything else is just noise. Sorry, but that is the truth.

Fred, you should fact check your information before posting. Our 2013 EzGo with A/C motor and ranger batteries WILL go 55+ miles on a single charge. It will also be able to push any gas cart up hill. These are the facts.:spoken:

I have owned a Club Car Precedent and found it to be a smooth ride and durable. Most golf courses in the Western United States use these for their Country Clubs, you can handle the car easily. Only drawback is the distance per charge, between 27-32 miles. I currently drive a Columbia Par Car Eagle P5 which is sporty, long range, and built to last. Only drawback is the ride quality is the ride is a little stiff, but I love it.

Some things to consider on an electric cart,

1.) Plug it in every time it goes in the garage
2.) Invest in a single fill watering system, fills all batteries at once.
3) Get yourself a mat designed to catch any acid overflow on the garage floor.
4)The battery life is between 3-4 years, only replace them all at once, never one at a time.
5) When it is time for batteries, call Battery Boys. they deliver, haul away and do a fast, clean job, Trojan Batteries.
6.) Thank-you for doing your part to reduce noise, smell, and air pollution.

There is one exception and that is the section of diamond lane on St Charles that sits between Cane Garden and Buttonwood Road


There is a long section of that diamond lane that leaves the impression that you are rolling over a washing board

I suspect that it's because there is some kind of connection between the developer and the Yamaha dealer.

Nationwide, Club Car has the highest market share. Also, nationwide, electric carts outsell gas by a huge margin. The general thought amongst golf cart experts is that Yamaha makes the best gas carts and Club Car makes the best electrics.

It might be that because we use golf carts as a means of transportation other than on a golf course that gas carts are more popular here, but that will be changing with the advent of longer life batteries and especially now that lithium-ion batteries have become available for golf carts.

There is a new cart, I believe that it's called Smart Cart, that has lithium-ion batteries. These batteries require no maintenance, last for 15 years and can go 100 miles on one charge. It also has a Toyota motor, built in speedometer and many other features.

Lithium-Ion batteries are also available for pretty much all other electric carts as well.

As these become more and more popular, I would expect to see the Yamaha and the gas cart use diminishing.

The fewer the batteries, the longer the range. I know it sounds funny, but eight 6 volt batteries will go a lot further on a charge than four 12 volt batteries.

Take a look at a new cart called the Smart Cart. It has lithium-ion batteries which are maintenance free, can go 100 miles on a charge and can last up to 15 years.

"Fewer?"

Would lithium batteries for golf carts have the same fire-hazard problems as they did on the hoverboards, though?

Nope, same type of battery packs as cars (hybrids and all electric like Telsa)

Simple reply re: 4 12 volt
 

As you are aware 4 12v batteries is 48 volts SO is 6 8V batteries. However, the 6 8 v batteries will or should have more amper hours. Think of it a a bigger tank of gas.

It is also true that when you need to replace the batteries it will cost you more to replace the 6 8v batteries than the 4 12v.

I own two Club Car, 48 volt, with 6-8 volt batteries, and they are nearly perfect for me. The only downside is that they have DC motors, which slow down on hills. Driving south on Morse Blvd. between Mallory and Havana is not pleasant if a speeding gas cart is behind me (usually tailgating) - my cart slows down to just under 15MPH on those long hills. If keeping up speed on hills is important to you, I would suggest you consider an EZ-GO, which has an AC motor and doesn't slow down on hills. But generally, I believe most people would say the Club Car is a better quality cart. Personally I would not own a gas cart, due to noise, smell and vibration. Yes, the newer Yamaha's are quieter, but still nowhere near the quiet of a Club Car electric. Plus you can have a nice conversation with your partner on an electric cart.

Susiegel, did you have anyone check the alignment? We bought a used cart, and I noticed the steering wheel was always off center, after getting the service manual, I was able to determine the alignment was out. I was able to do the alignment myself, and the cart drives much better. The other item to check are the bushings on the front arms supporting the front wheels. If you have a helper, they can look under the cart while you twist the steering wheel back and forth, there should be very little or no movement of the control arms where they are mounted to the frame.
Hope this helps.

People defending their golf carts?????
 

1. RE: Western golf courses
Confession we own a Yamaha GAS. They do not allow gas golf carts in ANAL California. Reason-noise. The pollution from a gas golf cart is probably higher than your car. Due to the fact that they are or were designed as GOLF CARTS, the engine stops every time you stop the cart.
The most dirty time for a gasoline engine is starting and stopping.
2. Electric vehicles-surely you all realize the electricity comes from burning what we call fossil fuel. I don't know about Florida but for the US 40% of electricity still comes from COAL. Reminder we has some atomic, some solar, some hydro, some wind, and I think some earth thermal.
You just do not see the pollution you are creating.
3. As to a stink-we have fuel injection and it is cleaner than a carburetor. Like anything else, you will find people driving golf carts in need of repairs-way out of tune that are far worse then they should be.
4. Both CHOICES have advantages and disadvantages.
As I've said we have gas.
I see people with electric golf carts afraid to turn on their head lights when they really should be on. This is because they fear the drain on the batteries.
Should you run out of gas, gasoline can be bought and added to the cart-not so with electricity
Quiet-yes, the electric carts are quieter but that is not always a plus. I've had people in electric golf carts climb up my butt when I am ridding my bike and you do not hear them. Same is true of people walking.

It all comes down to amp hours which translates into range. 12v have I believe 185 ah per battery thus a total of 740ah. 8v have I believe 215 ah for a total of 1290 ah. Last 6v have 225 for a total 1800 ah. All are 48 vdc. You will get longer run time the more ah available.

No shortage of opinions
 

We own a yamaha gas golf cart. As to an affiliation between the millages and yamaha-I DOUBT THAT.

My personal experience. I did my reading and frankly had decided on buying a club car gas. Reason-the engine is slightly bigger than the one in the yamaha. If I recall it is 15 hp compared to 12 in the yamaha. Also te engine in the club car is a Kawasaki and it has pressurized lubrication. The yamaha is a simple splash system. The yamaha has fan cooling, the Kawasaki does not

The club car dealer sold me on buying a YAMAHA and I have no regrets. The dealer and his service guy only knew their electric models.

///

Both the Yamaha and Club car motors are great. They both have fans.
We have very few problems with either motor and they last a very very long time with no internal engine repairs required.

You did not read my post
 

Both of the 2017's were loaners. Not mine. Not my problem. Far as I know it is impossible for the steering gear or bushings to be worn. Since they are used as loaners, perhaps previous people abused them

I have personally seen a newer (2015?) cart with the front bushing actually crumbling, they were blue plastic, and pieces were literally falling out of the joints. Yes, I agree with you, since these were loaners, they were probably abused.

Speaking of smell.......I had a Yamaha 2017 gas cart loaner when we had the annual service done on our 2016 Yamaha electric cart. I pulled the cart into the garage and closed the door. I had a very prominent odor of gas in the garage. I thought something was wrong with the loaner cart. I opened the garage door to air it out for about 2 minutes then closed the door. No more smell.

Another time, I had a 2017 Yamaha gas cart as a loaner, same thing happened. I put the cart in the garage and there was an obnoxious smell of gas. After opening the garage door to air out the garage, the smell dissipated and did not return.

Honestly.....I would not want to have to allow the gas smell to air out before closing my garage door every time I park the cart in the garage.

I LOVE my Yamaha 2016 electric cart.

You want to look at units of energy (kWh) when comparing different battery configurations.

Some typical numbers from Trojan's webpage:

4 x 12 volt config = 8 kWh
6 x 8 volt config = 9 kWh
8 x 6 volt config = 12 kWh

Therefore, the difference between a 4 x 12 volt configuration and a 8 x 6 volt configuration is about 1.5x. I believe about 0.15 - 0.2 kWh per mile is a good estimate, YMMV.

I had all three E Z Go is the best