EFI vs. carburetor
 

Does anyone have any recommendations? Looking to buy a golf cart and don't know whether there is a huge difference between the EFI vs. carburetor.

Check out electric, no fuel, no smell, no going to "fill up", daily range equal to gas.

Our Yamaha is EFI. No problems at all.

EFI. Better mileage than the carburetor. You only need to fill up at 200 miles, no charging daily. 50 MPG.

EFI is better but not so much to make you buy an EFI cart when you can get a better deal on one that is not EFI. I have two carts and neither are EFI and have never had any issues at all. Better mpg on an EFI really... I doubt it and you would probably never know the difference. If you are not going long distances check out some electric carts.

The Panda said it all.

There apparently is a difference in gas mileage. I seem to recall that EFI carts are about 5-10 mpg better than carburetor carts. We have an EFI cart and consistently see 50 mpg. Whether that makes an EFI cart worthwhile is probably dependent on the price differences you are seeing.

We own one that is carb and the other is EFI. Both are very reliable.....tad better milage for EFI cart.

Hands down EFI (port or direct) beats carburetor, the simple fact that the computer makes all the adjustments while the carb just sits there says it all.

Does the EFI stink as much as the carb?

The biggest difference is in the savings of $1500 in purchasing a carburetor over an EFI.

Last year we purchased a new 2014 carb. Yamaha for under $9000 out the door from The Villages Golf Cart store. One year and over 4000 miles and it runs like a champ. Gas mileage averages 43-47 MPG which is less than an EFI cart, but the $1500 savings will buy plenty of gas to make up the mileage difference.

My initial thoughts, outside of the lesser price tag was the possibility of EFI issues once the cart is out of warranty 4+ years down the road, and the potential of large repair bills.

I have driven both the carb and EFI models when we were looking, and there is virtually no difference in drivability.

Test drive them both and then you can make the correct decision that fits your lifestyle.

I've had both elect and gas. I liked the elect if I limited my daily runs to 50 miles or less. If I wanted to go from north to south and between I was worried the elect would run out of juice. Batteries IMO work Good for about 3 years then they start loosing there time between charges. About every 5 years or so 800 dollar battery change and going up depending on the cart you have battery arrangement? My gas I can go to Atlanta not have to worry (200 plus miles about 2 or more weeks for me between fill ups)
If I lived in central location where my travels would be with in the 50 or so miles elect for me would the my option. No noise, less preventive maintenance, no trips to the gas station (other to play lottery) plug in and go (occasionally top batteries off with distilled water) and I'm done.
I like fuel injection, no choke, (auto or manual) no gas laying in the carb. Better fuel air mixture ratio, less smell better gas mileage, less fouling or carbon build up. That's my opinion about Electric vs gas vs EFI.

For all the above reasons if you are going gas, you want EFI rather than carburetor. Especially if you are seasonal and would let gas sit in the carb for 3 or 5 months at a time. The auto industry hasn't used chokes and simple carburetors for years!

We have both, a 2011 carbureted Yamaha and a 2015 EFI Yamaha and both run great; the EFI gets about 7 more mpg. I managed a 36 hole golf complex in KC prior to moving here and we had 95 2011 Yamaha carbureted carts and other than occasional repairs, they all still ran great considering all the use and abuse the carts get on a public course.

Both electric and gas are great but we put a lot of miles on both carts daily; that's why we went with gas.