Used golf cart: electric or gas?

In Los Cabos you'll find both, and people usually choose based on what a neighbor told them. Both work. The difference comes down to three things: noise, what you spend every month, and the big expense waiting further down the road.

Electric

For: no noise, no smell, no oil or filter changes, and charging costs very little. In a gated community, the quiet is appreciated more than you'd think.

Against: it has batteries, and batteries get replaced eventually. That's a big expense that arrives all at once. You also need somewhere to plug it in every night.

Gas

For: you fill it up and keep going. No expensive batteries to replace and no charging hours to wait out. For rough terrain or long use, it keeps going without range anxiety.

Against: it's noisy, it smells, and it does need engine maintenance: oil, filters, spark plug. And gasoline in Los Cabos isn't cheap.

How to choose in three questions

• Where will you use it? In a gated community, home or development, electric wins on noise. Many communities even prefer it.
• Do you have somewhere to charge it? Without an outlet where you park, electric becomes a daily hassle. That's where gas solves the problem.
• How much will you use it? For short trips inside your community, electric without a doubt. For heavy work or long, back-to-back runs, gas won't leave you waiting on a charge.

Buying used, there's one more difference

On a used electric cart, the first thing to check is the batteries, because much of the value sits there.

On a used gas cart, what you check is the engine: how it sounds cold, whether it smokes, whether it leaks.

They're two different inspections, which is why the prices don't compare directly. An electric with new batteries and a gas cart at the same price are not the same purchase.

Our honest recommendation

For most people in Los Cabos — a house or villa in a gated community, short trips, somewhere to plug in — electric is the better option.

But if you have nowhere to charge it, or you'll use it for heavy work, gas is the right answer and we're not going to tell you otherwise just to sell you something else.

Tell us where and how you'll use it, and we'll tell you which of ours fits. And if none of them fit, we'll tell you that too.