Baby Jogger City Premier Review by Best Buggy

The Baby Jogger City Premier was a bit of a surprise! Coming so soon after the success of the City Versa, the Premier didn’t at first glance appear to be much different to the Versa. However, there are some really key differences with the fabrics, handlebar, suspension, fold and wheels. With the Baby Jogger City Versa topping our surveys for the best all round pushchair on the market, the Premier had a lot to live up to!

First Impressions

Our first impression of the Baby Jogger City Premier was relief! Why? We were driving en route to Wales when we got a phone call to say our Premier was ready to be picked up! We happened to be passing the warehouse, and the weekend away was the perfect opportunity to try the Premier out…….but the car was packed solid! We decided to pick the Premier up en route, and thankfully, once out of the box, with a bit of rearranging, the Premier slid easily into our boot. This is one of the reasons we love Baby Joggers so much – they are very easy to live with, and no matter how full your car is, you can always slide one in somewhere! We got a closer look at the Premier once we arrived in Wales, and initial impressions were great: beautiful fabrics, sturdy smart black chassis and a spacious seat.

Child Comfort and Harness.

The Baby Jogger City Premier seat is suitable from 6 months old until approx 4 years of age. The seat is a framed seat, and can be lifted off and turned to parent or forward face. We have no doubt that any child will be comfortable in the Premier seat. Master BB is nearly 6 years old in these photos so the seat is huge with lots of room under the hood. There is plenty of room for the child to sit and move. The extending footrest allows for growth across time. The footrest also has a choice of 5 positions to support little feet well, whether your little one is sleeping or awake. What we particularly liked was that Master BB could push the footrest out of the way and use the lower chassis bar to rest his feet on, so there is plenty of room for growth. The seat has three seating positions including an upright position and a flat recline position. There is no bumper bar on the Premier, but one can be bought and fitted as an optional accessory.

The City Premier harness is like the other newer Baby Jogger pushchairs. Whilst it is a good harness, the top shoulder straps can too easily for our liking become detached from the lower part of the harness. This is frustrating when trying to fit in a wriggly toddler, especially with winter coats and a footmuff on. The issue we have is that a parent, including us (although Master BB is much older), are less likely to use the harness with the full 5 points, and simply use the lap part of the harness instead. We have heard of parents using tiny cable ties to hold the shoulder straps to the waist part to make things easier. The harness button is difficult for a child to press in but it is fine for an adult. The Premier comes with harness pads for the shoulder straps. However, ours slid straight off the harness on Day 1, which was very annoying because we nearly lost them. They simply would not stay on, and eventually got removed and put somewhere safe!

Hood, Raincover and Storage

The Premier has a large hood. The fabrics are beautiful textured and good quality; and the Indigo colour of our fabric is gorgeous. The hood gives good protection from the elements and also from the sun. There are 2 peekaboo windows with lovly magnetic closures, so that you can keep an eye on your little one whilst they sleep. One issue with the early Premiers was that the hoods were floppy at the rear i.e. when you pulled them taut, they sagged slightly. Our hood did this too. It wasn’t an issue for us because we don’t use the hood, but it probably would be if you have a little one. We do not know if this issue has been resolved. Unlike the other Baby Joggers there is no definitive ‘snap’ as the hood gets pulled into position either.

As with all Baby Jogger pushchairs, the raincover is not included with the Premier. However, storage is included, and there is plenty of it! There is an absolutely massive basket which can take everything you need for an outing and more! There is also a handy mesh pocket on the rear of the seat which is useful for keeping small items or the raincover to hand. There is plenty of room to add a parent console or other storage if you so wish too.

Handlebars, Handling, Wheels and Brake

The handlebar is very similar in style to the City Select and Versa with a thick, chunky, rubber grip. The handlebar is an extending one, which makes the Premier more like the City Select. We prefer this type of handlebar as they give better leverage up kerbs etc. This extending handlebar is one big improvement over the Versa.

The other positive improvements are the larger wheels, and the fantastic rear suspension. We must confess to wondering why Baby Jogger had brought the Premier out when the Versa had been so successful. We were also dubious as to whether the larger wheels would be a hindrance. However, they are nothing but a big help. The larger wheels make the Premier really light and easy to push. The rear suspension is superb and is one of the highlights of the Premier pushchair. The suspension, wheels and handlebar all contribute to making the Premier a brilliant pushchair to use and to handle. We took the Premier across grass, cobbles, pavements and up and down kerbs and it handled everything with ease.

All the wheels pop off very easily to clean or for storage in the car boot. This is a definite bonus because the Premier is the sort of pushchair that is perfect for muddy autumnal walks or woodland paths. The front wheels can be locked straight to help when going off road, and they also swivel for manoeverability about town.

Fold

The City Premier joins the rest of the Baby Jogger family with having a superb, easy fold. The pushchair can fold with the seat left on in either direction. The fold is nearly identical to the Versa fold, but with one addition. There is a tiny red locking catch which needs releasing before folding the chassis. This button is easy to find when the seat is forward facing, but it is incredibly tricky to locate when the seat is parent facing. We found it easier to lift the seat off the chassis slightly to release the red button, and then start to fold the chassis a little, whilst letting the seat drop back into position.

The fold is so incredibly neat, and there is no other pushchair of this size by any other brand, that gives as neat a fold. As we said at the start, we could pick the Premier up on our travels, with confidence, because we knew that even if the Premier hadn’t fitted in our car boot, it would have easily slid into a footwell. On one outing, we went into a very tiny, but very busy icecream parlour. It was pretty stressful trying to steer the children into seats with the pushchair, but it literally took a second to fold the Premier, whip the quick release wheels off, and stack all the components under and next to the table. That was when it really impressed us. We love a pushchair that is easy to live with.

To fold, simply squeeze together the two pins at the rear of the seat, by the fold handle, and then fold the seat forwards. Then locate the red locking button and press it in. Then use the pull handle to complete the fold. The seat can be locked to the chassis to prevent it flapping when carrying, using the ‘locking strap’ which is held by press studs to the rear of the seat.

In Conclusion

The Baby Jogger City Premier is one of the best all round pushchairs currently on the market. It isn’t top end luxury, but it does everything you need from a pushchair, and more, all with ease. It is hard to believe that such a big pushchair has such a small flat fold. The seat is generous, the hood is large and there is plenty of storage. The push is superb and the fold is easy. The only negative for us is the harness, but that isn’t enough to stop us giving this superb pushchair a Best Buggy 5 star rating. You really can’t go wrong with a Baby Jogger City Premier. It is fantastic.