Is bugaboo donkey duo my only option?

[mmpgl]

So I need a pram that suits a newborn and a non walking 11 month old. I want the newborn to face me & have the option of attaching a car seat. I also want both sitting side by side rather than on top etc.
Oldest child starts primary school 4 days after my scheduled csection and we’ll be walking to school every day. It’s also uphill and I have a bad back so using a sling is out.
I’d like the car seat option so that if we go out in the car just after dropping her to school I don’t need to remove newborn from car seat.
I have searched the internet far and wide and the only pram I can find is the bugaboo donkey duo but it’s price is eye watering. Shelled out £1k for our first baby’s travel system and ended up hating it. Got a doona for dd2 which was GLORIOUS. But sadly in no way adaptable for a second child.
I personally have found not having the right pram a really hard thing to cope with, it makes you not want to leave the house. Plus with 2 under 1 I need all the help I can get!!

Mountain Buggy Duet has parent-facing seat that comes with the carrycot and you can also attach a car seat. The seats are the same size than in Donkey but it's a bit smaller frame so fits smaller spaces.

Bag thing is you need to buy every single rain cover etc separately BUT it's still significantly cheaper than Doneky. The air-filled tyres need maintenance but you can also get solid tyres (or fill the air ones with slime)

We have the mountain buggy duet v3 for 12 month gap. Looked at the donkey but it was so wide and big. We've found the duet great so far, the only down side I've seen anyone mention is tire punctures but we've only had one in 8 months from going over a drawing pin at school, which was easily fixed with bike puncture repair kit.
It's not much different from a single for going round shops/through single doorways etc.

My youngest sleeps through being moved fine so no car seat wasn't an issue, I think he had to adapt to bring a deep sleeper with DD2 being so noisy!

Mountain buggy duet does all those but it much narrower than the Donkey.
We had the donkey and tbh I hated it. So bloody wide. Used it about 5 times before I got sick of it, and sold it for £500 in immaculate condition. So if you do decide on the Donkey have a look at second hand as you may get a bargain.

I had an iCandy Peach blossom (one on top, one below) but newborn wasn’t having any of it, so was a sling baby for a very long time.
As he got bigger, I invested in a Mountain Buggy Duet. It’s good in theory, but you have to buy all the other bits separately, and it’s an absolute monster when folded - filled my car boot completely, so I went back to the iCandy for the times when DS wasn’t in the sling

@MyBreadIsEggy Donkey is much larger folded though. I'm sure Duet is the smallest sidebyside fold :)

But I as well really love the small fold of top-below doubles.

I hated getting our Donkey out of the car, and folding it. Pissed me off every time. Bloody giant oaf of a thing.

ellybo I’ve never used a donkey - I almost bought one, but after DS was born and he made it quite apparent that he hated any form of transport that didn’t involve being attached to me or my boobs, I’m very glad I didn’t shell out that much money!!
I got my iCandy second hand for a bargain, same with the MB Duet - so I didn’t mind so much that I didn’t get on with it. I sold it on for almost what I paid for it!

Thank you so much everyone! I had seen the MB but thought you could only have two car seats or none attached. After further research and measuring my doorway - the donkey is out! It was an absolute beast when I seen it in the shop yesterday. Found a MB second hand near by and collecting it tonight. You have saved me a fortune and a lot of heartache by the sounds of it! Thanks again everyone!

@mmpgl so glad it worked out :) If you get any accessories, just be sure they are compatible with your version. There are v2, 2.5 and v3 and not everything is fully compatible with each model. You can get f. ex. puncture proof wheels and the carrycot/parentfacing seat and so on, so just extra check that it all fits your model.

@mmpgl
How did you find the mountain buggy duet ? Torn between that and and donkey duo !

Hey, @Ohhhhhlalala, I couldn’t get into the old account as it’s been years but I wanted to answer your q.
so I went mountain buggy, I ended up getting an insane 2nd hand deal with bassinets and car seats included so that’s why I went for it. The way it was designed I could take the whole thing apart and wash it before my kids used it. I loved that. So I used it for almost 2 years until my then 3 year old didn’t need her seat anymore and I just got a foldable pushchair. I was able to fit in every door of every shop/cafe/ building etc. my then 5 year old would sit on the foot shelf and it could easily take the weight of all 3.
the car seat connector was really easy to use and the bassinet was narrow so it felt a little safer and cosy for baby.
It was pretty easy to get in and out of my car boot at the time which was an S-Max.
Only real negative was the tire’s going flat like other people said. If I was more organised I would have had back ups or bought solid ones.
a few friends got donkeys because they do look so much prettier and solid however they either sold them as soon as they could or they rarely used them. They are so huge and don’t fit in any doors.

if You have money to burn and don’t want to enter any single UK doors, go donkey. If you want something functional although less fancy, go MB. All the best :) xx

Thank you for a fantastic reply !!! I will have a look the mountain buggy. That is on on my list and has great reviews ( I’ll just be sure to have some spare tires . Think I’m a sucker for a brand name and love the look of the bugaboo but I have rarely read any positive reviews on it ! So I now have decided to look at the mountain buggy !thank you x