Gas vs Electric
 

We hope to become Villagers within the next 6 months. Have a lot of questions about golf cars.
In general, what is the best, gas or electric? The concern I have with electric is the range.
Do you carry insurance on golf cars; if so, what is approximate cost?
What is the advantage to a "lifted" cart?
Thank you.

Always a good question by a newbie.

You will get lots of replies, but do a search on this site.

Lots of people get good "range" with electric, but it does fade over time. But, with electric..........go smells in garage or driving.
Pro's and con's all around.

Good Luck.

:welcome: it's an exciting time for you.
If you're new to TOTV, you may not be aware of the search button (above).
It gives you the ability to look at archived threads.

We prefer an electric golf cart because it's quiet and doesn't smell.
Our electric Columbia Par Car gives us a range of up to 60 miles.

It's a matter of personal preference. Some people like gas because of the range and now with the new golf cart gas station at LSL it's easier to fill up.

I prefer electric myself because of the lack of noise, smell and pollution as well as the ease of maintenance and lower cost. Although I will admit that the new EFI gas cart reduce all three of those significantly.

I have recently installed a new type of battery called The Ranger in my cart and I get 50 to 60 miles on a charge. We've never gone anywhere near that in a day but it's nice to know we can if we'd like to.

Additionally, I worked with fleets of carts my entire career and have gotten comfortable with electric.

If you intend to trade in your cart every few years it doesn't make any difference, but if you plan to keep your cart for a long time, electric carts have fewer moving parts and are much easier and less expensive to maintain.

I like the ride, and lack of noise of electric, but that's me. Some people don't mind it.

Like I said, it's a matter of personal preference. There are pluses and minuses to both.

I wouldn't base you decision on the gas rental carts that you get here however. The new gas EFI carts are a totally different animal.

Nationwide, electric outsells gas by a huge margin. But, most golf carts are used on golf courses and most golf courses prefer electric for all of the reasons that I mentioned.

Here in The Villages, the biggest retailer is Villages Golf Carts who have four locations within TV. Up until recently, they have been exclusively a Yamaha dealer. Yamaha makes the best gas golf cart by miles so they sell a ton of gas carts. They will tell you that gas sell 9-1 over electric in The Villages. I don't know that that's true but I'm sure that it's true for them. Just by my observation, I would say that there's a fairly even split between gas and electric here.

It's probably difficult to make up your mind of you don't have a strong preference as you can't really come down and take out two new golf carts to try for a week or so.

I have an older cart and my insurance is less than $100 per year.

You most definitely want to buy insurance. the cost varies by company and the coverage that you get. Estimate: $100/year +/- $30.

The advantage to a lifted cart is to bolster the ego of the driver/owner. That's all!

AND welcome to TV ... the best is yet to come!

We recently bought a 2015 Yamaha EFI gas cart from The Villages Golf Cars at Brownwood and are really pleased with it. It is quieter, more responsive and doesn't smell anywhere near as bad as the older carbureted models. Our insurance runs $128 per year for all the usual coverages and 250/500 liability and uninsured motorist. I would suggest taking different models for an extended test drive. The Villages Golf Cars will let you take one for a 24 hour period, at no charge.

Here we go!

Buckeye Bob,
If I can offer some advice, please WAIT for the golf cart. See where you live in relation to where you want to go. many of the newer sections are quite a distance (my opinion) for golf cart travel. We have been here almost 1.5 years. I bought a used golf cart for my wife as she wants to golf. It sits in the garage unused, as we go everywhere we want to go by car. We are in Pinellas ( south of 466a) and 90% of what we do or go to is North of 466, or up to Spanish Springs. personally I am not interested in spending 45 minutes to an hour in a golf cart getting to somewhere that I can get to in 20 - 25 minutes in a car.
This is my humble opinion, just please approach this with your eyes open.
AND welcome to TV.

Buckeye Bob I thought I was alone with my opinion of golf carts. I rode motorcycles since I was 16, I raced Dune Buggies and road ATVs for 20 years and I don’t get any kicks out of bouncing in the gutter with cars whizzing by 18 inches from the side of plastic cart. My first choice is the car. I am looking at a Smart car to replace the golf cart.

I would not lift my cart. It will make it top heavy.

My brother who will own a house down the street from me in the Villages decided to purchase a new 2015 Honda Fit for use in the Villages. It will get around 33 MPG city and 41 HWY. It also includes a camera that helps you see cars on your right rear side when traversing roundabouts. And, it has a reasonable price tag. He should be taking delivery of the Fit this week in Ohio. I am eager to give it a try.

Good. Now for the rest of us who play golf.........

We have a nice used 4 seater Yamaha gas. (Says OHIO STATE on the front) That's mine.

And a nice used Par car electric.

We can drag around a bunch of guests and show them The Villages that we love so much.

Now.........back to Frank7. HE is the expert on Golf Carts and a very nice fellow too.

Wow. I'm blown away by all the responses, thoughts, ideas & suggestions. Thank you all so much for your input and looking forward to becoming a Villager. Thanks again.

If you are smelling gas from your gas cart something is wrong. I have never smelled any gas from mine. If I had two carts I would have one electric and one gas. But with just one cart is will be gas.

Raising (lifting) a cart makes it more unstable than it already. Why would you want to do that in the Villages?