Golf cart confused...
 

Greetings! My wife and I will be closing on our new house at the end of the month and we're very excited! My question tonight is about which golf cart we should buy, gas or electric??
Thanks, Jim & Deb

If you’re not going to drive too far from home electric is fine. Gas carts have a range close to 200 miles.

This is like the white or wheat bread, thick or thin crust on your pizza or boxer / briefs ....

I know you are new, but you can search this topic to see discussions from before .. but I think I can summarize:

Electric is quieter, but when batteries die, you are stuck.... Batteries are expensive to replace ( when that time comes)

Gas is loud(er), it needs regular engine maintenance but as you can see, they seem to run for 10 - 15 years.

I suggest you go try both at the dealer.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on this, but since you asked and I have an opinion, get a gas Yamaha Quiet-Tech with very comfortable aftermarket seats and have seat belts installed and you will have a very nice ride.

Good advise

I tend to agree on the quietech, "recharging" a gas cart takes about 5 minutes to put in gas, and electric several hours, and currently, there very few (if any) recharging stations in the villages. Be very careful about electric vehicle range, especially if you are going to be located in the extreme North or South of the villages, as ylou may end up traveling significant distances.

As they integrated automotive Li Ion technology into golf cars, the gap is closing. This looks interesting:

Club Car Introduces New High-Powered Lithium Ion Onward | Golf Cart Resource

Be prepared for when the drive belt starts slipping.:ohdear:

When considering battery power, you need to do your homework on how to properly maintain the batteries. It's not just a mater of adding water and plugging in. That being said, I own 2 battery powered carts and am very happy with them.

Rollie

Yup! On the 4th belt in 8000 miles. New secondary clutch installed to see if that was the reason. Now the seals on the transmission had to be replaced. This is all on a 2017 Yamaha quiet-tech. Piece of J** junk.

Modern electric Yamaha and EZGO carts have a range of about 60 miles.
If you are going to be driving your cart to Tampa Bay and back, then definitely get a gas cart :)

When you forget to fuel/charge up before your trip it's a lot easier to put a gallon of gas into the cart than it is battery juice. One you call your spouse or a friend for a gallon of gas, the other you're calling for a tow back home.

Don't buy into the "it doesn't pollute" myth, it's call a displaced carbon footprint, you may not be putting it out the tailpipe but you will be putting it out at the power station.

Basic engineering tells us that every time there is a change in energy state or form there are losses and inefficiencies. Gas burns, moves the piston, and then turns the wheels. Electric starts with the fossil fuel that burns at the power station, that heats the water to make steam, that turns the turbine, that makes the high voltage electricity, that travels miles in the power lines, that gets reduced to household voltage, that gets converted to DC to charge the battery, that changes the electricity to stored chemical energy, that's converted back to electrical energy, to turn the motor, that turns the wheels. More steps, more losses/inefficiencies, bigger carbon footprint.

Consider also the long term maintenance, each year you will have about 1 quart of used motor oil to dispose of - easily recycled, or every few years you will have 250-300 pounds of lead and sulfuric acid to dispose of.

Annual maintenance is the
key to preventing many golf cart issues

Hate the task of everyday having to at least charge the cart, water once a month, if I remember, replace batteries, etc. With gas I never worry about where I am going until my tank is half empty, 100 plus miles. Oil change once a year. Plugs and air filter never to 5,000 miles. Just my opinion.

My Yamaha Gas Cart purchased at LSL from The Villages will be 8 years old in August and have never had any repairs, only regular maintenance from Willie's Cart Service and a new battery after the first 4 years.

Our most Harcore Friends just switched from an Electric EZ-GO to a 2019 Yamaha Quietech which is decked out with everything that can be had. It is absolutely beautiful and they are thrilled with their decision. We have a 2016 Yamaha with a Carberator and it has been flawless to this point. We put on about 50 miles a week. We only use The Villages Gas in our Cart and have missed out on some of the problems our friends have experienced with backfiring.

The thought of buying an Atomic Cart is so tempting but for now, we are going to stick with the Gas Yamaha. I'm pretty sure there is still two years of warranty left. Good luck with your choice.

Happy with The Villages Golf Cart In Spanish Springs. Any problem we've had, just drive up and let them know what's happening and your out in 5 minutes with a loaner. No waiting around for someone to show up at your home for a repair. Just my thoughts. Not judging anyone else's call on repairs.

We began our golf cart ownership with an electric cart.Yes, it was quiet and didn't smell. It lagged going up hills ( we leaned forward "to help". We also were leery about driving at night with the extra draw of the head/tail lights. We are very happy with out gas cart. We keep up with maintenance and all is well.

Without reading any other posts, this is exactly what I would recommend.

Re: Drive belts
 

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Our Yamaha gas cart is five years old. We are full time and used it about every day. We do not have an odometer on it but a guess
based on fuel usage is 3000 miles a year so 15,000 miles on one belt.

You might review your driving style. Where your speed is set.
Ours is a two seater. If you have a four seater obviously more weight more belt wear. Also, creeping up hills is like ridding the clutch in a stick shift.

We have had two QuieTech carts since their 2017 introduction. Absolutely the nicest, trouble-free machines we have owned. IF you have a problem, you could work with your dealer to correct it as it would still be under warranty. I'll bet those engineers at Yamaha knew what they're doing before the QuieTech was ever released to the marketplace.

We have one 2016 EZ-Go Electric with Trojan Lithium batteries and one Yesteryear 2017 Yamaha Gas Quiet tech. Both are fine. The EZ-Go is much more comfortable to ride in due to how quiet it is. I find it easier to plug in at home every night than to track down a gas station. South of 44 I’m not sure where the gas station would be...I think maybe there is gas at the golf courses?

The Yamaha Yesteryear has had two recalls since I’ve owned it. Due to the Yesteryear body, Villages golf cars will not do the recalls in the drop in tents, you have to bring it in. Though my Yesteryear has great storage and is good for hauling stuff.

If you chose to buy from the Villages Golf Cars do not get the $300 automatic turn signal turnoff. They don’t know how to set it to work most of the time. One time they reset it so badly the headlights no longer worked.

Of the 5 people that I know with 2017-2019 Yamaha Quiet - tech carts. I know of 7 belts needing changing. 2 clutches needed replacing. Rear suspension on a 2017 had to be re-positioned on one cart, resulting in 2 new rear tires. A 2019 with 2,000 miles, with the front suspension so far out of alignment that both tires needed changing. Seals on transmission leaking (you'll never know this unless you remove the back panel). All these carts are maintained per manufactures recommendations. That's just 5 carts!

Proper maintenance will abate that fear.:welcome:

Are you the hot rod type that has to go faster than anyone else?

just askin...:popcorn:

I resemble that question :a040:

My 2012 1/2 has 9500k miles and supposedly has the malfunctioning clutch? Haven’t had one problem, the cart runs and drives as new. Maybe it’s the operator’s causing the clutch problems banging the centrifugal clutch in when taking off? Or the cart is overloaded? Plus my the original drive belt is like new?

Or familiar with centrifugal clutch operation.

Well, they should of seen fluid on garage floor where is sets and drips. It don’t take much to just look.

Some people can’t find the dipstick. How many actually check tire pressure once month or even know how or have gauge to check it. If you have a lot of weight on the cart (250 plus pounds person, golf clubs, extra seat on the back, etc..) all that affects suspension geometry, plus add low tire pressure and the tires not going to last long.

Taking you’re cart in once year not going to do much good if you put lot miles on it. Some people can make YUGO last for ever and some trade MB every two years. So which ones are doing preventative maintenance and which ones just get in and go?

This first question I would ask? Location? And range I plan on traveling? I’ve had both and I live at one end of the villages. After two or three years I didn’t trust my elect cart from one end of the villages to other. Then, around 3, 4, 5, year mark on batteries they slowing loose recharge and the cart slow down, when that happens for me long trips are out. Then, there cost of batteries which never go down in cost. So, if you’re centralized location then elect cart will work great.

Now gas, I don’t notice the noise and mine not quiet tech, if noise is issue, it may bother you? Smell, I don’t smell exhaust. When backing into the garage feathering gas I can smell some enriched exhaust from working the gas pedal. when you smell exhaust in tunnel it’s not from you’re cart, so that not going to make difference.

Maintenance: you have to check oil and air in the tires, elect usually have automatic water system. But still have to check level just like oil. Three things you have do with gas, put gas in it, check oil level, change the oil IMO twice year, check tire pressure once month, and yearly maintenance. So, if you’re travels will take you from one end of villages to other (now that’s could be 40 mile trip when the bridges are finished) gas may be good choice.

You’re going to here good and bad about both, but only you can answer the questions to make choose.

Some of the gas Yamahas have a bit of a "shudder" just after starting up. In my own cart, this was addressed by going to a different drive belt. I am using the following part:

Yamaha JC0-G6241-01

This belt currently has 10,000 miles with no issues. The cart, a 2014, has 18,000 miles with no issues.

My maintenance schedule is as follows:

- oil change every 50 hours.
- one shot of grease in the zerk fittings on the two clutches every 100 hours.
- drain and fill the rear differential every 500 hours.
- clean the pre-airfilter every 100 hours.
- blow out the pleated air filter every 100 hours. There doesn't seem to be a reason to replace it yet.
- the spark plug looks like it should be good for well over 20,000 miles.
- rotate the tires every 10,000 miles.
- check the tire pressure (I keep it at 28 PSI) once a month. The Loadstar tires look like they should last about 35,000 miles.
- check the brake pedal travel, and adjust if necessary, every 500 hours.

I wanted an electric cart as it would be emission-free, quiet and more environmentally friendly. However, as I researched them, I realized that I'm just moving emissions elsewhere (the electricity I'd charge it with mostly comes from coal-fired plants here in Florida) and that the mining for the heavy minerals used in batteries is an environmental nightmare (and if you keep an electric cart for several years, you'll go through multiple sets of batteries). So it was pretty much just getting one to have it be quiet.

Then I really looked around during my final visits to The Villages before moving here. It seemed like every time I went to any of the town squares, 80 to 90% of the carts I saw parked there were Yamaha gas carts. Checking this site, I found people selling 10-year-old and older Yamaha carts for fairly good money. People here seem to love their Yamahas and the carts seem to really keep their value. So I shopped for Yamahas. The 2017s had just come out with "Quiet-Tech" which doesn't make them silent, but gets their noise level down well below the earlier models. So that's what I ended up buying. I've driven from our house in Dunedin clear up to the Paradise recreation center and down to Brownwood and never had to even think about range as a tank full of gas on one of these will take you a few hundred miles easily. I'm looking forward to exploring the new southern region of The Villages in my cart once the bridge over 44 is in place. I don't know that I'd consider that with an electric cart, even though battery technology has improved dramatically over the years.

Your needs may be different than mine so you may go a different direction. I've seen people in those little Atomic carts with the air conditioning and all zipping around and they seem pretty happy with them. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Yeah that $60 for a drive belt is nothing compared to new batteries. And before someone chirps about the labor, I’ve replaced 2 belts myself; not hard to do.

We have owned electric carts at campgrounds in the past. They are quiet but need to be plugged in often. Each year you get less on a charge and every 5 or so years you need to replace the battles at at least $600.

We have a Yamaha gas cart which we had decided on a couple years before buying the house and we love it.

But have yet to find someone that drives it 200 miles in a day

Another note, there is range fear here, people worry if they drive electric. My wife and I both have electric carts, with new batteries we get 60 miles on a charge, after 3 years it is down to about 35 miles. If you know how far the souther reaches are from where you live you can do the math. We are in the middle so getting to Fenny or Spanish Springs is not a problem, but for those that have range fear gas is probably the choice.

You will NOT see drops on the floor from the new Quiet-Tech carts! There is sound proofing under the engine! The sound proofing was soaked! NO drops on the floor! Piece of junk!

Great list!

I've never look under the hood

What tools do you need to do this?

Does the cart need to be jacked up for anything other than tire rotation.

Nevermind, found some YouTube videos, thanks again for the list!

We have 2013 Yamaha brought new from TV with over 23k miles on it. Change the oil once a year, transaxle gear oil once every two years. Repairs include new tires, new battery, repair windshield (new hinge,) replace brushes in starter/generator, replace one headlight, replace tie rod ends (to tighten up steering) and air filter changes. I have seen to many electric carts broken down and batteries replaced. Gas is much less expensive and way more convenient. The newer Yamaha are quieter and ride better. Maybe when I get to 40k miles, I will buy a new one!

You do know that The Villages Golf Carts has a contract as do many owners with AAA, Kart Aid, and a third company to pick up carts that break down. Since the majority of the carts here are gas, wonder why?

I recently played golf at Hacienda Hills as a single. I got paired up with a threesome and was told by the group that they were driving the carts and I had to ride with one of them. So I loaded my clubs into one of their carts, an electric cart. I was having the round of my life and after 13 holes the cart we were in ran out of juice on the middle of the course. We had to push the electric cart to a safe place, use the other cart to go get my gas cart, and then come back and continue our round. My great round more or less got ruined because it was now a high stress round as we were holding up other golfers and had to hurry (not the other golfers fault). When the round was over, I had to tow the electric cart back to the owners house (fortunately I carry a tow strap in my cart). Moral of the story, I will never get into another electric golf cart, especially for a round of golf.