Perfect beach buggy - Ezgo or Club Car??

[CoastalCart]

Hey there guys! Wanted to tap into your collective wisdom for some insight and to ask a few questions I hadn't really seen answered here.

My wife's parents had a lifted Ezgo Series 36v cart at their beachhouse in Galveston (with 22" tires, rear seat, and 4awg wires the only other mods I could see). As you can imagine, it was slow as molasses. Luckily, (or unluckily) its demise was the only real casualty at their house in Hurricane Ike back in 2008. So I've been tasked with finding a replacement, and have been instructed to hop to it.

Usage will be fairly limited - a few 1/3 mile jaunts between the house and the beach a few weekends a month, a few (5) months a year. Land is completely flat, and max people/cargo load on the cart will be 700#, and usually far less. Main improvement I'd be looking for would be some more speed - hopefully in the ~20mph range. Looks like the main availability down here is Ezgo and Club Car, so I figure I can limit the discussion to those two. Have found both similarly priced and conditioned, so would love to get y'all's opinion on some technical aspects!

From what I can tell, the Ezgo PDS can hit ~20mph with the $5 Freedom chip, 22" tires and maybe some upgraded 4awg wiring. But will that extra load on the motor burn it up quickly or have any other adverse effects on the other guts? Are my speed expectations fair?

Looking at the alternative, likely a pre-2010 Club Car Precedent - meaning the 48v with 4-12v batteries - it looks like it takes more $$$ and effort to get to 20mph. Bare minimum would be a Level 4 performance code for ~$100, and likely also a PlumQuick Bandit rebuild on the motor, for $225 + shipping both ways. Plus maybe 4awg cable upgrade. Again, is this correct? Would a DS be the answer? Although I think they had similar internals to the Precedent, right?

Potential leg up for the Club Car is the aluminum frame, which in a beach environment could be a big plus. Any of you have Ezgos around the beach - can you make it work if you keep the frame cleaned off and repaint every year or so?

Sorry for the long message, but I'm hoping you guys can help me pick the right one before we're stuck.

Thanks!!

[CoastalCart]

Hey there guys! Have this same question posted over on the Club Car side, and I'm getting some great input - of course, it's all pro Club Car!! Except for ScottyB, who crossed over

Would love some input on if anyone else has an Ezgo at the beach, what experience they've had with rust, and what can be done to avoid/mitigate it.

Also, any experience with lifting a PDS? I read an older thread this morning that said that putting bigger tires on a PDS used to burn up the controller, until the 2008 models got better controllers. Anyone heard this?

Thanks a ton, guys!

[as350pilot]

Of course the EZGO is the best, you're in the EZGO section.... ;)

I would go EZGO PDS, lift kit, PQ Bandit, and an Alltrax 400 amp controller.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by CoastalCart

.............I read an older thread this morning that said that putting bigger tires on a PDS used to burn up the controller, until the 2008 models got better controllers. Anyone heard this?...................

Basically, too big of tires will take out any stock controller.

If you don't go too wild and don't have a heavy foot, stock PDS controllers will turn tire a couple inches taller than stock (18").
My stock (17.4") tires gives me 18.2 MPH in the Freedom mode, so I could get about 21 MPH with 20" tires, but I'm in no hurry to get anyplace.

What I like about EZGO carts is that they incorporate fairly sound engineering principles and when they fail, and every electro-mechanical devices eventually fails, they can be repaired and/or upgraded by most DIY'ers.

On the other hand, having helped a couple neighbors troubleshoot their CC's, I arrived at the conclusion they were designed by Political Action Committees and Community Organizers rather than engineers and found out there is very little technical information about them in the public domain.

[Duscarter]

As far as I can tell, my cart has been at the beach it's entire existence. It's a 97 or 98, I don't remember. The rust isn't that bad. My battery tray will be the first thing to go, and it looks to have at least a couple more years in it.

I wire brushed and sprayed rustoleom on everything I could get to without removing the body.

[yurtle]

Originally Posted by JohnnieB

What I like about EZGO carts is that they incorporate fairly sound engineering principles and when they fail, and every electro-mechanical devices eventually fails, they can be repaired and/or upgraded by most DIY'ers.

On the other hand, having helped a couple neighbors troubleshoot their CC's, I arrived at the conclusion they were designed by Political Action Committees and Community Organizers rather than engineers and found out there is very little technical information about them in the public domain.

That was so funny I had to flip it to all my CC buds.