Luxury on the Links

Golf carts were conceived as simple, functional machines that would ferry players around courses that often stretched for three or four sinuous miles. Now, however, more and more linksters prefer to ride in style. Japan's Yamaha, which is becoming the deluxe class of fairway transport, has just introduced the fanciest, priciest cart ever to cruise past a clubhouse. Called the Sun Classic, this "golf car," as Yamaha refers to it, sells for $4,230 and comes with tinted windshield, headlights with high beams, self-canceling turn signals, brake and tail lights, adjustable seats and chrome wheels with < whitewall tires. Such options as plush carpeting and AM-FM radio can add $280 more to the sticker price.

The Sun Classic is likely to be an especially big hit in retirement communities that allow people to drive golf carts on public streets. In Sun City West, Ariz., Yamaha Dealer Ned Lee says, carts have become a major mode of transportation. He adds, "Here, parking lots have spaces marked just for golf carts."

Powered by a small gasoline engine that gets as much as 24 m.p.g., the Sun Classic is geared to travel at 13 m.p.h. but can be souped up to hit 30. Jim Hakeman, 66, of Sun City West, uses his new Sun Classic for shopping expeditions and visits to friends' condominiums. Says he: "It's a beautiful machine. It's the first golf cart that doesn't look like one." It is fast becoming an object of envy. Says Larry Koch, 52, who lives near the Round Hill Country Club in Alamo, Calif.: "The Sun Classic is very stylish. A dozen guys have already bought one after seeing mine."