Goin' to go against the tide on this one. When we decided to get a cart it was not strictly for hunting. My wife and I use it all the time in the yard and garden as well as trips around the farm.
I went to a guy that sells used carts, gas and electric. I had never paid any attention to golf carts before and he let us drive a gas cart and then he suggested we drive an electric cart. We fell in love with the electric cart riding down the dirt road by the man's shop. All you can hear is the tire tread on the dirt. It is a real pleasue to ride in the woods! Naturally I had questions about the batteries, maintenance, etc... It is not very fast, deep water would be an issue and it only has seating for 4 adults. If you're used to a 4-wheeler that runs 50 mph you wont like an electric cart.
We had him put a lifted front end and some larger tractor tread tires and a flat bed that folds up into a seat on the back. Living where we do, we don't encounter any real deep water very often so it ain't exactly a miniature swamp buggy. You can air down the rear tires to about flat and it will go through some slop. I have an old antique 6' grain drill and I pulled it out from under the shed with the cart and pulled it over to hook it to a tractor, I got the bright idea that I could pull the drill with the cart in a food plot. A couple of rounds and you could smell some wires getting hot, drew too many amps pulling through a disked plot. That's the only issue we have had as far as performance is concerned.
This one is a Club Car, 48 volt and it has an aluminum frame, lighter and no rust issues. If I had to do it again, I think I would buy a good used electric cart from an individual and do all the add-ons myself, as it is I have added lights and a couple of gun racks.
I have never had it go dead, sometimes we run it a day or so without charging it up, but most nights it's plugged in the charger and it is fully charged by daylight. Also we are only using this cart on an 80 acre home place, so in the big woods you must have a way to recharge the batteries and that is a factor in a lot of camps. Treefarmer
Lets talk pricing. Been on craigslist the last couple of days. It seems you can't get into a lifted gas model for under $2k. At that range, I might as well buy an old small pickup w/ 4x4. Now I did track down a lifted electric model for $800. Does this seem reasonable? The pricing difference has got me wavering......
Lets talk pricing. Been on craigslist the last couple of days. It seems you can't get into a lifted gas model for under $2k. At that range, I might as well buy an old small pickup w/ 4x4. Now I did track down a lifted electric model for $800. Does this seem reasonable? The pricing difference has got me wavering......
In the "gas" department it depends on what you're looking for. If you want to go the nearly new route then yes you'll pay more. If you buy a used "ele" you'll pay less but probably end up replacing the batteries sooner than later and they ain't cheap. I picked mine up for $1500 and it's a '96. If I went with a regular body type cart then I probably would have paid less but this one came with a dump bed which is what I was looking for. Just keep looking around. Don't be afraid to buy a "fixer upper" if you are mechanically inclined because they are pretty simple to work on.
At any rate, show us a picture of what you get :>) You can visit this site http://www.buggiesgonewild.com/ and get some good info on both gas & electric. Hope this helps.
That's a good site 9dawgs posted. I bought my Jakes 6" lift kits from them. I can't tell you too much about gas carts but can electric. Electric carts are very easy to work on. The year doesn't seem that important to me if the frame is in good shape and it runs well. Batteries are gonna hit you hard when you have to replace them. Figure around $500 every 4 or 5 years for good batteries and even more for Trojans. I got lucky and picked up 6, 6 month old 8 volt Trojans for $60 a piece off craigslist from a guy in Ga. last year. If you get a good running cart you can do all of the customizing yourself very easily. My lift kit was a little over $300 if I remember right and took less than 2 hours the 1st time. The next time on my other cart took me about an hour. I was able to find 22" offroad tires and rims on craigslist for $100 down here but that was extremely lucky. On my last 4 different leases I can tell you that I didn't need to have a gas cart to hunt the property. But I didn't have to go through any mud or water holes either. Just remember that deep water and electric carts don't mix well. The motors are down at the axles. I just sold this one 2 weeks ago for $2000. 
Got this one left
I have a line on this EZ Go for $700 comes w/ charger and batteries less than a year old. Going to go look at it tomorrow morning. What do you think?
