I think once you have a real live baby in a pushchair, that is the only way you will know...I have had a few that I thought were great until I actually used them with a child inside, and found we turned back round and went home before we had even crossed the road outside our house - they were that bad.
In my humble opinion, it is actually a bit unfair to bump a tiny child around in a small wheeled buggy, unless you only use it on flat, smooth surfaces such as driving to a shopping mall, using it round the shops, then back in the car home again. Otherwise their little arms fling out whenever you go over a bump. ('Moro' reflex that operates when said tiny child thinks it is being dropped/thrown etc!) This only lasts the first few months really, and they notice every little bump so a walk may get them off to sleep but it will be pretty disturbed sleep unless you have some serious suspension.
That is the only reason I'd recommend a bouncy pushchair or pram until at least 3 months.
Small wheels are great for shops as the buggy tends to be narrower - I have a maclaren but I would not use it yet at 4 months, except for said shopping mall, because I believe the big air tyres are better for little one's comfort.
I would say that the buggy type (Maclaren etc.) are great when the child is around a year old, up to about 2.5 or 3, when they become a bit heavy to push with a big child in them and thence something like a Quinny Freestyle or similar (light but with air tyres) is fantastically light to push, even if you 3 year old is built like a boxer (as mine was!)
So my pattern is, big air tyres for newborn, small buggy wheels for toddlerhood, and finally, back to the air for a 'why-aren't-you-walking-yet-anyway' type child!
Oh and you need swivel wheels for that last one as well, or you will probably break the handlebars/develop arms like a trucker, just turning corners.