After complaints about problem pushchairs to government helpline Consumer Direct rose by 64%, we set up a series of unique tests at Silvestone to put 14 buggies from the UK's leading brands through their paces. TV and radio presenter Gabby Logan - whose twins have gone through a total of nine pushchairs - helped our team of Crash Test Mummies through the challenges.
Although not exactly scientific, our tests replicated the sort of everyday challenges anyone using a buggy has to face.
'Pedestrian Slalom' pitted the pushchair against other pavement users, to see how easy they were to manoeuvre.
'Buggy Buckaroo'saw our 'Stunt Mums' do that age-old no no, hanging shopping on the back of the buggy. The manufacturers warn against it, but most mums have done it. So how stable are our pushchairs? How much shopping would it take to topple our pushchairs?
At 'The Buggy Bus Stop' the 'Crash Test Mums' battled public transport and disgruntled passengers, and they saw how quickly they could collapse the buggies on a bus.
Finally, Buggy Bronco tested the pushchairs' straps. Our testers strapped in a doll, admittedly a little smaller than a child, and a modified bucking bronco did its best to dislodge it from the chair. Would any of the safety harnesses be a match for our bronco?
The Results, like most things in parenthood, were far from straight forward. But the most striking result was that, generally, cheaper buggies did prove a match for their more expensive counterparts.
There were no overall winners or losers, but some pushchairs did stand out in individual events.
At the Pedestrian Slalom, our 'Crash Tests Mums' were particularly impressed with the Quinney Buzz, a premium buy at £420, while the McLaren Sport, a budget £140, cornered like a dream.
For our Buggy Buckaroo, the buggies were split into groups according to the price. In the budget round, the Mamas and Papas Luna was the first to topple, and once our mums had finished loading their bags, only the Safety 1st Easy First, our second cheapest buggy at £150, was left standing.
It was the mid-range pushchairs' turn to be loaded up next, and the Mothercare Xcursion Travel System and Maxi Cosi Mura stayed up longest. In the premium range, the Bugaboo Bee and Mothercare My Choice stayed standing the longest.
Our mums struggled with The Buggy Bus Stop; collapsing a buggy single handed while simultaneously holding the baby, was something none of them enjoyed. And the tuts of their fellow passengers did little to relax them. But two buggies, the budget Mothercare Vesta (£180) and the luxury Bugaboo Bee (£400+) did prove to be easy to collapse with only one hand free, even for our harassed mums. But it was clear problems with some of the other buggies in this challenge could have been down to our user error by our testers...
Finally Buggy Bronco was too much for all but one of our buggies. Only one pushchair, the mid-range McLaren Black XT (£250) survived a whole two minutes without the doll being thrown from its straps. The other stand out was another McLaren, the Techno XLR (£460), which lasted 1 minute ten seconds. No other pushchair got near to the one minute mark!
Pushing pushchairs to their limits
Although not exactly scientific, our tests replicated the sort of everyday challenges anyone using a buggy has to face.
'Pedestrian Slalom' pitted the pushchair against other pavement users, to see how easy they were to manoeuvre.
'Buggy Buckaroo'saw our 'Stunt Mums' do that age-old no no, hanging shopping on the back of the buggy. The manufacturers warn against it, but most mums have done it. So how stable are our pushchairs? How much shopping would it take to topple our pushchairs?
At 'The Buggy Bus Stop' the 'Crash Test Mums' battled public transport and disgruntled passengers, and they saw how quickly they could collapse the buggies on a bus.
Finally, Buggy Bronco tested the pushchairs' straps. Our testers strapped in a doll, admittedly a little smaller than a child, and a modified bucking bronco did its best to dislodge it from the chair. Would any of the safety harnesses be a match for our bronco?
The Results, like most things in parenthood, were far from straight forward. But the most striking result was that, generally, cheaper buggies did prove a match for their more expensive counterparts.
There were no overall winners or losers, but some pushchairs did stand out in individual events.
At the Pedestrian Slalom, our 'Crash Tests Mums' were particularly impressed with the Quinney Buzz, a premium buy at £420, while the McLaren Sport, a budget £140, cornered like a dream.
For our Buggy Buckaroo, the buggies were split into groups according to the price. In the budget round, the Mamas and Papas Luna was the first to topple, and once our mums had finished loading their bags, only the Safety 1st Easy First, our second cheapest buggy at £150, was left standing.
It was the mid-range pushchairs' turn to be loaded up next, and the Mothercare Xcursion Travel System and Maxi Cosi Mura stayed up longest. In the premium range, the Bugaboo Bee and Mothercare My Choice stayed standing the longest.
Our mums struggled with The Buggy Bus Stop; collapsing a buggy single handed while simultaneously holding the baby, was something none of them enjoyed. And the tuts of their fellow passengers did little to relax them. But two buggies, the budget Mothercare Vesta (£180) and the luxury Bugaboo Bee (£400+) did prove to be easy to collapse with only one hand free, even for our harassed mums. But it was clear problems with some of the other buggies in this challenge could have been down to our user error by our testers...
Finally Buggy Bronco was too much for all but one of our buggies. Only one pushchair, the mid-range McLaren Black XT (£250) survived a whole two minutes without the doll being thrown from its straps. The other stand out was another McLaren, the Techno XLR (£460), which lasted 1 minute ten seconds. No other pushchair got near to the one minute mark!
Pushing pushchairs to their limits