Baby Jogger City Versa Review – On The Road

This is a collection of photos of us out and about with the Baby Jogger City Versa.

We have had the Baby Jogger City Versa for a few months now and it is honestly one of the very best pushchairs we have ever had here at Best Buggy HQ.

Back in August we wrote an initial review of the Baby Jogger City Versa GT. I think this is an excellent summing up of the Versa GT and the differences between the Versa GT and the Versa. I see little point in repeating this information about features, functions, differences etc. again here. So may I recommend you read this post https://www.bestbuggy.co.uk/2012/08/baby-jogger-city-versa-gt/ for a thorough look at the Versa / Versa GT. Just bear in mind that the Versa and Versa GT are in essence the same pushchair. The chassis are different colours – the Versa is shiny gun metal grey and the Versa GT frame is matt black. The Versa and Versa GT are branded as such ie the embroidery and side badges. The main difference is that the Versa GT has small ‘forever air’ all terrain wheels which makes it 1.1kgs heavier at 13kgs. This Versa comes in three colours – red, black and silver whereas the Versa GT only comes in black.

Since then, we have had both the Versa – in the photos above, and also the Versa GT (separate photos), on the road, and both pushchairs have lived up to expectations and gone beyond them.

Seat and Child Comfort

The seat is huge and comfortable. Both my children look really comfortable in the seat unit. We love how the footrest extends for an older child and also lifts up into several positions for comfy sleeping. There is ample room under the hood even for our tall 4 year old, but it seems easy to clip the hood on higher up should it ever be necessary. We love how our eldest has a choice to rest her feet on the seat frame footrest or for us to slightly tuck the footrest under so that she can rest her feet in front of the basket. The seat has 3 recline positions adjusted by a lever at the back of the seat. It is so easy to squeeze the two buttons on either side of the seat, lift the seat and turn it around and drop it back on facing the opposite direction.

The fabrics seem strong and hard wearing with adequate padding in the seat. The harness is much better than the previous Baby Jogger ones I have seen. Tightening the harness is easy. Loosening it off is a tad more tricky, but still easier than the old ones! I love the small clips to undo the harness from the different height setting loops.  The buckle is easy to do up one side at a time, and to undo.

The hood is huge and offers good coverage for a sleeping child. It feels smaller width wise than the other Baby Jogger hoods, but its still large.

Fold

A HUGE part of why the Versa is so good is because of the fold. It is so simple using just ONE hand to squeeze the buttons at the back of the seat unit, and fold the seat forwards. Then to reach under the pushchair and with a big tug of the fold handle, to have the Versa folded flat in your hand in seconds. There is a seat storage strap on the seat, which poppers onto the chassis to stop the seat flapping during transit. There is an autolock on the chassis.

The chassis folds with the seat on whether forward facing, or rear facing. The fold with the seat in either direction is very flat and neat. This is a BIG selling point as most pushchairs have a neat forward facing fold, but not neat in both directions. The fold does seem relatively long, but with the front wheels removed, the fold is neater. In fact with all the wheels removed and the seat removed, the Versa takes up a very small amount of space – great for a small car boot! The folded chassis leans nicely against the wall in our home upside down ie wheels in the air. It would easily slide into a gap to be stored.

Basket, Handlebar, Wheels and Handling

We love the huge, huge, huge, big basket. We do find that the front of the basket pings off sometimes after folding which is a tad annoying.  There is also a mesh storage pocket on the rear of the seat which is useful for the raincover or bits & pieces. The storage on the Baby Jogger Versa really is fabulous!!

The handlebar is rubberised and is chunky. It feels great in your hand. It makes the Versa feel like a really sturdy pushchair.

The Baby Jogger City Versa has 4 EVA wheels whereas the Versa GT has 4 ‘forever air’ rugged small off road tyres. On pavements / shopping centres etc the wheels handle in a very similar way. This may seem an obvious statement – but its not. Offroad wheels – even small ones, usually are not as nippy. They often take a wiggle to get straight whenever you stop. There is no compromise with the Versa GT wheels. They handle like the EVA wheels.
The GT wheels offer more of an off road option. However we have taken our standard Versa onto farmland several times and with the wheels locked we managed to drive straight though a field full of tall grass with ease! So, don’t underestimate how good the Versa is even without the GT wheels!
The suspension on the Versa is fantastic – there is suspension on the front wheels, and it is also visible at the rear. The suspension on the Versa GT is much less. There is still suspension on the front wheels, but none on the rear wheels. The Versa is noticably more bouncy and is lighter to push than the Versa GT. Although the Versa GT is slightly heavier, I do put the difference in pushability down to the suspension at the rear. Being able to push down a bit more on the handle certainly helps with tipping the front end up kerbs etc. However I was very appreciative of the Versa GT’s wheels in the recent icy spell when the GT wheels stuck to the path instead of sliding all over (as another pushchair had done the day before when it wasn’t as icy!).
The big question will be which is better – I am not sure at this stage I can answer that. The GT has the fabulous chunky wheels but you lose bounce and lightness to have better all terrain accessibility. Our ideal would be to have both – the ‘forever air’ GT wheels with rear suspension.

In Conclusion

This is really one review of several and hopefully you are getting the impression that we think the Versa is pretty fabulous. It really is an awesome pushchair. Its difficult to say what makes a perfect pushchair, and what is perfect is very very subjective. But for us, its a pushchair where our children look comfortable, whatever their ages. It is one that is a pleasure to push. It is one with a neat, reasonably small fold so that we never want to swap the pushchair for an umbrella fold, and ideally folds parent facing as well as forward facing. It is one with some good storage. The Versa’s - whether standard Versa or Versa GT tick all these boxes and many many more for us.

The Baby Jogger City Versa and Versa GT are excellent pushchairs!!!