Wifey wants a golf cart to ride grandkids around in. We live, basically on my lease. I have 4 wheelers, but not a utv, to me they're way too expensive. I thought, well they are quiet, I could use it for hunting. Opinions on electric versus gas.

This has been beat to death like places to eat at Orange Beach. Look back in the search section. It’s always the “Wifey” that wants one. Gas and not just a regular gas golf kart unless you’re on a golf course type terrain.

Gas, batteries are very expensive, and you will have to replace them at some point.

Go gas. They are nice for what you are talking about here.

I have one and use it for hunting. 48v Ezgo Express s4. I will never go back to a gas hunting vehicle. Had it for 2 hunting season now. No regrets.

In our neighborhood all the needy "look at me" moms have them to putt around the neighborhood and gossip with each other. The ultimate keeping up with the Joneses thing right now. I do see how they would be handy for hunting or tooling around your property.

This will be my 9th. season on my electric EZGO. Nice for slipping around. Batteries last about 4 years if you take good care of them.

I oversee a fleet of golf carts, there's nothing wrong with the gas carts if the noise/smell doesn't bother you (like for hunting) but I would personally go with an electric any day. 70% of our fleet is electric, and that number is up because of a bunch we had to buy during the pandemic when gas was all that was available. Ours are used hard for 6-7 days a week and we can get 10-15 years out of most carts and Trojan FLA batteries will give you 5 years of service. The newer lithium carts will give you 8-10 years out of the batteries. stick with EZ-GO, Cushman or Club Car if you can, Toro units are great but harder to find. I do not recommend Yamaha, Gem (Polaris), or Icon.

If you are thinking of buying new, I'm really intrigued by the Tracker brand utility vehicles (cabels, bass pro). They're made by Textron (the same company that makes EZ-GO and Cushman). Their prices and specs look great and you also won't have to wait 6 months to get one like some of the brands. I don't have any specific experience, but I expect they'd be a great value.

Just curious why you recommend to stay away from Yamaha? I don’t have a Yamaha golf cart, so I don’t have a dog in the fight. But I do have other Yamaha products and they’ve been great. I would have expected the same from their golf carts.

In all honesty, We've only owned 1 but that was enough. it's not that they are awful, it's just that there is no one redeeming quality to them and they not that much cheaper than a mainstream brand to make all the extra headache worth it. I don't know how they do their design and R&D but it seems like they buy rights to old, outdated designs from other manufacturers and then use that in their new carts. Parts are more expensive than EZ-GO, Club Car, and they're harder to find.
I really like other Yamaha powersports. I own a Yamaha ATV and have allmost exclusively owned/ ridden Yamaha snowmobiles, but they just didn't get it right on the golf cartts IMO.


Edit to add that Yamaha also only offered gas powered carts for many years, which was also a strike against them for me. Their engines were very good though

I got one of the EZ-GO Lithiums, runs 29 and its lifted and with has the big tires. I have had it for a year or 2 no complaints.

Gadsden golf carts has 2023 lifted carts with 4 seats for $9600. Anybody dealt with them?

Trust me, a 4 wheeler is all I need. My wife wants one, and personally I think it ridiculous to buy something that drives on the same road as my truck or atv does, but my wife is very good to me and if she wants one, I'll entertain the idea. It was either that or a pool, and the hell with that. We live in the sticks.

wait till you are deep into the woods and your electric cart runs out of juice or stops working after an evening hunt

I’m curious, has this ever actually happened to you? I hear people bring this up all the time as the main argument against electric hunting buggies, but I’ve yet to find someone it’s actually happened to. Most 48V FLA carts will go 25 miles + and the newer lithium will go even further, 60-100 miles depending on what size pack you get.

Gas carts also have a battery, duh!

Thayerp. Yes it happened to me went about 200 yards and quit working. Had to walk about three miles in cold and it was drizzling and I thought to myself I’ve never had my four wheeler do this to me and sold it and been running four wheelers and my trusty John Deere gator ever sense. Only will take one time to turn you back.

Funny - I actually have had to pull a golf cart back to the camp because the battery was dead.

However, it wasn't the cart or batteries fault - the guy didn't check the extension cord that his charger was plugged into. Someone had unplugged the cord, and he probably hadn't charged it for quite some time. We all got a good laugh, and the guy was in pretty good spirits about the whole ordeal - once he figured out what had happened. But coming up on him walking down the road that night - he wasn't over joyed about his golf cart.

I have an 05 36v ezgo that needs batteries I’d make you a deal on.

Hmmm, I played golf Monday and the gas cart we were using would not start at the 10th green. The battery died and we had no indication of a problem for the first 9 holes. My "home project" hunting buggy hasn't left me in the woods yet, knock on wood. I do take care of my cables and batteries, and have a digital volt meter to help me monitor them. I vote for electric.