I can tell you that if you live in a courtyard villa, either the "Woodlawn" or it's new name "Durham", get the smallest car you can. I bought a Mazda 3 Grand Touring 5 door Hatchback and I have no more than 5 inches on the sides between the garage and my Yamaha golf cart. It looks exactly like this:

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...3oz0kXB6SCl6x-

Depending on the car, one with a fold down rear seat back will help if you want to pack a lot in the car for your Northern trips.

A full sized SUV is great for travel and keeps the golf carts away.

Last trip down we rented a Kia Soul just to see if we had more room than our saturn vue. Put as much stuff from Costo as would fit in the vue but gas was much better 36mpg and had lots more room in the garage. Took it to disney and did well on the freeway, seems roomie on the inside, stop by a dealer take a drive and see what fits in your garage

We bought a Hyundai Sonata w TV in mind. We have a Woodlawn CYV. I wouldn't want any bigger car, it's tight w the Sonata.

As said, in my NY home I am spoiled with a huge basement and a 24' x 40' garage. In my Florida home we only have a 1.5 car garage...but I have approval and got the blueprints to build an adjoining 14' x 20' garage....a bit bigger then a golf cart garage, but I still wish it could be bigger.

I'm looking forward to buying a second car or truck down there.....rust free, etc!

Another car to perhaps consider is a diesel. The newer ones are clean, and the engines I'm told could go 300k miles. Up north a body could not last that long, but down there in Florida....I think it is an option. Not sure if I would, but it might be worth thinking about. I could more easily consider a more expensive car when I know it will not rust away in a few years.....

Frank

Honda GX CNG
 

The Honda GX is a full Honda Civic that runs on CNG compressed natural Gas.

If you have natural gas at your home a unit called Phil can be bought. It's a slow fill system that is plumbed in your garage. Hooks up like a UL dryer.

It takes 8 hours to slow fill the 3000 psi tank giving you about 8 gallons of fuel.

The car gets 350 miles + on a tank and at home natural Gas prices you are paying 1.30-2.00 per gallon.

There is not a very big trunk as the tank is there. You would never know you were running on cng. It performs as a standard Honda Civic

Range anxiety is a problem.

We also have a Prius and love it. For the folks that think it might not be suitable because of size, they have 4 models coming out next year. They have the standard mid-size that they have had for years, then they have a slightly larger version that is more like an SUV, but not nearly a large. Then they have a smaller one that doesn't have as much cargo area and lastly they have a plug-in version that has the gas engine as a back-up. The plug-in version has larger batteries and would probably work great for getting around TV.

Our current Prius gets around 40-45 MPG and is air conditioned and has a heater, so we use it way more than we do our golf cart. After all, they both get about the same mileage. I believe EZ-GO makes a somewhat hybrid golf car, but doesn't have room for golf clubs. Some day there will be a hybrid golf cart with the ability to handle clubs too.

There seems to be an abundance of Honda CRV's in the Villages. We love ours.

We rented a Prius in New York when we attended a wedding, and I loved it EXCEPT the screen on the dash board reflected onto the windshield at night. We were on back roads in a rainstorm, and I thought it was pretty dangerous, because we couldn't see the road for the reflections.
Just my 2 cents.

There is a dial just to the left of the steering wheel that changes the brightness of the dashboard lighting. It makes everything just perfect. I like it bright in the bright sunshine so I can see it, and then I turn it down at night for night driving. Not a bother at all.

BTW, I find the regular Prius packs A LOT. last trip to Florida my wife put a HUGE cedar hopechest on the back seat filled with stuff. In front of that was my laptop backpack, cooler, etc,etc. Under the back floor in the secret compartments most folks do not know exist she had 3 other large boxes. In the back she put our suitcases, TWO antique end tables, a totem pole, (don't ask....), boxes, 3 months of clothes, etc,etc......and I still had clear vision of the WHOLE back window and side windows.......

I'm looking forward to seeing the new Prius V.....as it is 61% bigger. My son just bought a new Honda CR-V and loves it. He checked out the other comparable SUV's that size like the Rav-4, etc,etc but liked the CR-V the best in terms of resale value, 5 year cost to own, etc.

Sounds like there are enough folks to start a Lake Region Prius Club....

Frank

I am a TV wannabe from the "convincing my wife" thread. Still working on that but we now have a Toyato 4Runner and what you would say is the opposite end of the scale of a Prius, a Toyota Tundra double cab.
We use it alot to carry materials for gardening and work on our cabin plus we pull a 25' travel trailer with it and a dog in the back!
So my question is all of the cars everybody is talking about are small and I understand that but does anybody still have their RV or trailer to go traveling or do you just stop doing that once you have moved to paradise!
If you keep you RV do you store it there and the pull vehicle with it?
It is hard for me to believe after years of having a 4WD truck that I will no longer need it.
If this belongs in another post I am sorry but it seemed to fit here as a side note.
EB

I always had a pick-up truck and my wife always a small car. We sold them both and bought a Rav4. I love it but still miss my truck.

Only three types of guys....
1) Guys who have never had a truck
2) Guys who HAVE a truck
3) Guys who had a truck and miss it.

Sadly, I am in group #3.....(for now):laugh: Actually, I just realized I do own a nice pick up truck, but my son has it and I really only have the title...;-(

Frank

LOL! I am type 2 and hope to not have to be type 3.
I had not thought about letting my son-in-law look after it and then I would borrow it back when I need it. Although that might be a huge test of my love for my son-in-law!
On second thought.....
Is there storage close by TV for RVs and trucks?
EB

P.S. VillageGolfer, are you the same villagegolfer on the Wisdom in Golf site?