We asked mum Andrea Kemp, her husband and their outdoor-loving 8-month-old daughter Lucy to put the Maxi-Cosi Adorra to work in their daily family life in Buckinghamshire. Here's what they made of this all-rounder...
The pushchair has three settings from flat to sitting upright, which is also great for little ones as they can see more. The seat seems quite high up, which again is nice as I got to chat with Lucy while showing her things as we went along.
We found the extended hood fantastic as it completely blocks out the sun from the face with no need for a parasol, and it has a nice mesh bit on top so you can peep in, which also helps with airflow through the pram.
It was very easy to adjust the harness straps and the lovely soft shoulder pads are great too.
Now we come to the shopping basket! I absolutely love the size of this after struggling to push a pram and carry shopping home. This pushchair has taken that away; I now fit so much more underneath and because it has deep edges nothing falls out either. I managed to fit the raincover, a big bag of nappies and three bags of shopping underneath and there was still room.
The Adorra has a great one-hand fold mechanism which makes things so much easier. I can now hold baby and collapse the pram, although it is difficult to move around carrying the pushchair as it is a bit bulky and heavy. So the folding itself is amazing but actually getting onto a bus or trying to put it in the boot while holding Lucy with the other arm is not easy at all.
The pushchair folds up quite small and fits easily into the boot of our Ford Focus, and I love the fact you don't have to remove the seat unit before folding. The pushchair clicks when it's folded and locked into place and you can stand it up, which makes it easier to store at home or when in friends' houses. When unfolding the Adorra, it is relatively easy, though sometimes the seat unit seems to overbalance and the pushchair goes flying forward. The only other downside is the clip that locks it into place is a tight fit to the frame and has scratched the frame work every time it's unfolded. I also found that after unfolding the pram the wheels are looked into forward position so you have to change back to swivel wheels, but this is so easy to do just by sliding the clips by the front wheels.
I used the pushchair on various different terrains and found the Adorra coped amazingly on every one. We went walking up through the woods and managed to get down small tree-rooted paths and also went to our allotment lots of times, which is very bumpy and uneven, and the Adorra didn't seem to have too much trouble at all. Gravel, shingle and paths were a breeze, although we did notice a very intense vibration under the hand and also the wheels seem to be very noisy with vibrations. While the Adorra coped well with bumps and tree roots, it is not the smoothest ride for baby as it has solid wheels and no suspension to speak of so not much give on this terrain.
When using the Adorra around town and going in shops you have no need to worry about the size and fitting through aisles and doorways. The Adorra, although very spacious, is compact to the point that I managed to squeeze down a local shop aisle between boxes and shelves and still make it through! I was very impressed. I also managed to fit in all the small lifts that are provided in some stores with other people, whereas with my other buggy we could only just about get in ourselves.
We also found it very easy to manoeuvre the pram up and down kerbs of various sizes.
We have loved putting the Adorra to the test. Lucy seems very comfortable and everything is easy to adjust within seconds. It's more of a town pram than a country pram, but it does a good enough job if you are heading off-pavement sometimes. I would definitely recommend the Adorra to anyone looking for a smart, all-round pushchair.