[NotGolfer]

Originally Posted by defrey12

My two cents: Golf carts aren’t really a form of transportation. Especially if it’s your only form…if only for a week. It may not be raining when you leave, but it is NO fun getting stuck in rainstorm in a cart. Sure, you can zip up…150 degrees @ 100% humidity in 4 minutes is not this guy’s idea of fun. I’d get a car…we have weather here.

What this OP is true. We've been here 14 yrs....started out with one car, and one golf-cart and mostly used the latter at first. BUT the area you're going to be in wasn't even started as a developement. Morse Blvd ended at 466a. Traffic was less back then but the amenities we have now weren't quite here yet. Then we went to two golf-carts, which was handy for us as we had different schedules to tend to. Eventually though---we found that the comfort of our car was better and faster---in the heat we could have "air" and also it does rain here on a regular basis. It can come up quickly!! I once was caught in a deluge where I had NO time to stop and zip up the sides. By the time I got home I looked like a "drowned rat" as I was soaked through and through. There are some areas here that are not golf-cart accessible! Every so often one will also see someone in their cart on a street/road that is clearly marked "NO golf-carts beyond this point". You can only drive on ones that are 35 mph or less. It's scarey to see one on a highway!!! Also, what someone else said about driving a golf-cart after dark is also true. It's hard to see and if you're unfamiliar it might be easy to get lost or have an accident.
Hope all the comments in this thread will help you!!

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

I use my golf cart most of the time, for almost all transportation needs. I even sometimes use it in the rain.

However - if you're doin a lifestyle visit, I don't believe those carts come with a sunbrella (basically a zip-up enclosure for the golf cart, with plastic windows). Even if they do - if it's pouring outside, you'll likely get soaked anyway; the rain comes through the vents in the top and bottom of the fold-down front windshield. It's also not practical when it's raining hard, on a super hot day. There's no AC in those things and if you can't open up the sunbrella because of the rain, you'll likely be melting by the time you get to your destination.

What I would suggest - despite those caveats - is to make sure that your golf cart DOES have a sunbrella. And bring a big ziplock bag with a couple of bath towels in it. Then you can "rough it" like a native!

[Nana2Teddy]

Originally Posted by Pamela1130

Thanks in advance for bearing with me asking another question. Do we really need a car for the LS visit? We are on no time schedule and would just love to explore with the golf cart. I know we will be in the southern area. (Anyone know exactly where). My rep just said Sawgrass area. I know the Villages is really big but is it doable by golf cart if you have no particular place to go? How far is the Brownwood area for the Sawgrass area by golf cart? We are renting in Brownwood for January and February. We will have a car then though. Thank you again.

I’m pretty sure the LSVs are still at Christopher villas, which is in DeLuna, not near Sawgrass. We stayed at Christopher villas for our 2nd LSV last November, and we used our car often. The carts they provide are not comfortable for long distances, and definitely not safe due to no seat belts. If you’ll be here during snowbird season you’ll definitely need a safe cart because of increased cart traffic, so IMO you should have a car, at least for longer distances. We used our car often on our first visit too in June 2022 so that we could easily see most of TV in one week. Have a great time! We live in DeLuna now and love it.

[Nana2Teddy]

Originally Posted by bowlingal

yes, I would suggest getting a car. If you want to purchase anything and keep driving your cart, you will not have anywhere to store your purchases and there is a lot of stealing going on here with things left in golf carts.

Have never had anything stolen from our golf cart in the 10 months we’ve lived here, and we take it everywhere.

[Justputt]

I did my lifestyle visit in May and I only used the car to cross roads the cart wasn't allowed to. However, I was staying in units just across from Brownwood. I road all over the place. The only other reason I can think you'd want a car would be to browse the lots, as they may be further away.

[Regorp]

Originally Posted by Pamela1130

Thanks in advance for bearing with me asking another question. Do we really need a car for the LS visit? We are on no time schedule and would just love to explore with the golf cart. I know we will be in the southern area. (Anyone know exactly where). My rep just said Sawgrass area. I know the Villages is really big but is it doable by golf cart if you have no particular place to go? How far is the Brownwood area for the Sawgrass area by golf cart? We are renting in Brownwood for January and February. We will have a car then though. Thank you again.

Our sales agent had his assistant take us on a tour for 2 hours around TV to include each town square and a few rec centers. Of course we had our lifestyle near Brownwood. We had a car to enable us to go anywhere and not waste time during our short seven days that flew by.

[Glewellen]

I'm sure you'll get along fine with the golf cart. Consider Groome from MCO airport to the house - takes you right to the house for $40/each. Consider getting your start up groceries from Walmart or Kroger. Both deliver to your house. I don't think they'll deliver adult beverages. Trusted Villages, FL, news & more | The Villages D | Trusted Villages, FL, news, weather, events, and more. Lot of good scoop at Trusted Villages, FL, news & more | The Villages D | Trusted Villages, FL, news, weather, events, and more. YOU'LL HAVE FUN.

[psjordan]

I will second the notion that the golf cars you get for the LSV are NOT comfortable, at all, for longer trips. In our experience anyways.

If you are planning on investing in a comfortable golf car if/when you buy, it is an entirely different animal to go 30-40 minutes in a newer, plusher golf car with comfortable seating. Just be aware, they may be different experiences entirely.

During the LSV we used the supplied golf car about 75% of the time, but we were only five minutes from Brownwood and Publix.

And just a note on our LSV visit (ending of the story is that we bought in Hillsborough early 2022). We did the LSV when we were in our early 60’s. The first 1.5 days we seemingly ran into a very old crowd everywhere we went. Like it seemed EVERYONE was age 80 and above (they weren’t of course). Delightful people but this did not seem close to our demographic at all. We were ready to tell the realtor we'd like to cut our LSV short, but decided to give it one more day.

A chance meeting of friends from home (no clue they were there) on day three changed everything. They clued us in to the what to do and the where to go (for our interests), and we ended up looking for houses before our LSV was over. Made another trip down about 5-6 weeks after LSV and ended up buying.

The moral being it may behoove you to explore beyond the confines of a "non comfy golf car" during your LSV so that your first impressions are based on a wider range of people/locations/activities.

In any event, I hope both your trips go well!

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by Nell57

No car? How will you get to your rental unit?
You are in the newest area with the fewest amenities. In area,The Villages is the size of Manhattan. You will have a very narrow view of our Lifestyle.
They will probably include movie tickets in your lifestyle package.
Someone who knows the geography will be able to tell you how far it is by golf cart to the movie theater and a grocery store.
If you should need an Urgent Care…..can you even get there via golf cart? (COvid is slamming the Midwest again. But at least it’s treatable)

The Urgent Care on the corner of Meggison and 44 is accessible by golf cart...

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by arbajeda

In the Sawgrass area there is no gas station, no grocery stores, no drug stores, no retail other than what's available in the Sawgrass market, which is pricey. Nearest retail is either Lake Deaton Plaza or Magnolia Plaza. Be prepared for a long golf cart excursion to either if you don't drive.

Lake Deaton Plaza is not that far from Newell. Maybe 15-20 minutes...

[jparsoneau@aol.com]

Yes, you can do many things on the golf carts but to go see the whole villages and surrounding areas. I would definitely recommend the car.

[skippy05]

There is almost nothing in the southern area. You must have a car to get to the northern area where everything is. Also consider heavily buying resale in Northern area for the same reason and to be located no where near the turnpike noise.

[Lancer]

Originally Posted by Pamela1130

Yes, I need to do that. Thank you for the reminder!

Also available in the App Store if you have an Apple device.

[FFlank]

I visited for the entire month of August and I was in the Richmond area. I had planned on only having a golf cart, but ended up with a rental car because I found that renting a car for the few days I would need one was almost the same price as having the rental car for the month. Having a car turned out to be a good idea. I enjoyed my cart rides, but remember that, if the purpose of your visit is to explore and see if TV is right for you, you can see a lot more if you can get to places in a timely fashion. Trips to the grocery store, trips to restaurants, etc are a lot more fun for you and your spouse if you have the option of just getting there. Personally, I could have been fine with just the cart, but there were plenty of times when my wife and I were going out to dinner or picking up things at the market when I'm sure she appreciated the fact that we were shielded from the elements and not taking twice as long in the golf cart.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Nana2Teddy

Have never had anything stolen from our golf cart in the 10 months we’ve lived here, and we take it everywhere.

Wait until you have been here for 10 years, then you will likely have experienced some crime.