Baby Jogger City Elite v’s Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle (Runway Edition)

This photoset shows the Baby Jogger City Elite (Stone, on left) side by side with the Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle (Runway special edition) (Blue, on right).

These photos are to give an idea of the size and main features of both pushchairs. For more detailed reviews of each please look under the “Single Pushchairs” section here on Best Buggy.

The Baby Jogger City Elite and the Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle are two pushchairs which have all terrain capability, but are equally as good to push and manoeuvre about town too.

The Baby Jogger City Elite retails at around £100 less than the Urban Jungle.

Both pushchairs are suitable from birth, or can take carrycots or car seats. The Elite is easier to fit with a carrycot (a choice of 3 carrycots) or car seat – they simply ‘plug’ in. The Urban Jungle really needs the seat fabric removing to add on the carrycot or car seats. The Elite fabric could be removed if desired to make it look more “pram” like. However the advantage of not removing the fabric is that when you reach the 6-18 month phase where your baby may still be in their infant car seat, you have the easy choice of using the car seat adaptors to form a travel system, or using the seat fabric. Whereas with the seat fabric removed, the car seat option no longer really is viable after 6 months. The Elite has a great lift up calf rest which makes the seat extra comfy for a sleeping child, as their legs are raised up. The Urban Jungle can have the Face to Face seat added on, however the angle of this is the same as a car seat, with no recline, so we do not see the benefit of this over using the car seat.

The Elite has a mesh panel at the rear of the lie flat recline which has a storm cover for colder days. This offers the option of ventilation for a child on a hot day. The Urban Jungle seat back is solid. The Elite seat is pulled up using one toggle cord. This does  require two hands and a shoulder to push the seat back upright but its not hard. The Urban Jungle uses two toggle cords – one on either side – and its easier to pull one, and then the other upright. Both are easy to release to lie the seat flat. However the Urban Jungle has an annoyance, in that the seat fabric bunches up around the child’s head when you sit them upright. This becomes really annoying. It is possible to pull the seat board forwards and push the fabric behind, however you then can’t release the recline easily because you first have to pull the fabric back out again!

Both pushchairs look smart, neat and tidy. However I do love the look of the Urban Jungle. The Runway fabrics are particularly lovely. They are thick and hard wearing canvas. This Cool Blue colour way has brown stitching which makes the fabric look a bit like denim. The Elite fabric is easily to wipe clean. Both pushchairs can have the fabric removed for washing. I know the Elite can be machine washed. I dont know about the Urban Jungle, but it could certainly be showered down. We love the colour choices of the Urban Jungle – both the Runway and standard fabrics.

I love the massive hood on the Baby Jogger City Elite. There are three folds with a peekaboo window and two side windows offering ventilation. The Urban Jungle hood is a good shape, with two folds, and one peekaboo window. There is a flick out visor at the front, but ours simply would not hang straight and to be honest just looked messy. The visor folds away inside the rim of the hood. My son constantly played with this which was annoying!!

The Urban Jungle comes with a bumper bar. The Elite belly bar is an optional extra (along with a snack tray and console option).

Storage on both pushchairs is excellent. The Urban Jungle basket is packed full of pockets and pouches and to be honest is my favourite part of the pushchair. I loved that I could find exactly where everything was eg keys, camera, phone, purse, drinks, but yet had the large middle section for shopping and bags. There is also a bottle holder on the side of the Urban Jungle for drinks. The Baby Jogger Elite has a large storage basket underneath. Access is not the best, however I could push my good sized handbag underneath. The elasticated sides help, however the space is good. There is also a large mesh pocket on the rear of the seat which is useful for holding bits and pieces, or a raincover. There is also access to the basket via the lift up calf rest at the front of the Elite.

Both pushchairs have adjustable handles. The Elite handle is rubberised, the Urban Jungle handle is ribbed and we always cover Mountain Buggy handles when out and about as we dont like the feel of them.

The Urban Jungle has air tyres. The Elite has ‘forever air’ tyres which means they are puncture resistant. We have ‘slimed’ our Urban Jungle tyres to prevent punctures.
Both front wheels lock or swivel. The wheels lock underneath the pushchair. The front and rear wheels are the same size (12″) on both pushchairs. They also are easily removed. The front wheel on the Urban Jungle is hardest as it needs unscrewing, whereas all the rest release quickly, but its not hard to do.

The Baby Jogger Elite has a fab handbrake near the hood. This is so simple to apply and to release. The Urban Jungle has a footbrake which isn’t the simplest to apply and we found it difficult to release. The red brake parts are too near to the ground to be able to get your feet under them easily. We have ended up having to bend down and release theUrban Jungle brake with our hands which isn’t ideal.

The biggest difference comes with the size of the seat. It is clear from the photos with the children in, that the Elite seat is much bigger, with better head room than the Urban Jungle.
The children are our 4 years and 6 months old (107cms tall, 91st centile) girl and our 2 year 9 month old (87.5cms, 9th centile) boy. Please bear in mind that our 4 and a half year old has big size 12 feet!

The fold size is also a big difference. The Urban Jungle folds long and thin. It requires the length of the pushchair to fold and open. Folding is done by releasing two catches either side of the footplate and then lowering the Urban Jungle to the floor and applying the manual locking strap. The Baby Jogger Elite folds easily using the one handed fold strap in the centre of the Elite seat – simply grab and pull and the pushchair folds in half. There is an autolock on the Elite. I find the Urban Jungle easier to open – largely because I release the lock and by the time the pushchair hits the floor it is pretty much open, and a final push down clicks it firmly open. The Elite needs pulling apart to open. The autolock does slow opening down, but could always be removed (undo the screws). The Urban Jungle freestands nicely when folded and takes up a fairly small footprint. The Elite will prop upside down against a wall, or will lie on its side when folded. However in a car boot, the Elite takes up a lot less space. With the wheels popped off, the Elite is smaller folded on some dimensions than the Baby Jogger City Mini!

We have enjoyed using both of these pushchairs a lot. Both have pros and cons, but for us, the Elite is easier to use, has a bigger seat and offers more features to the users.