Are Graco pushchairs that bad?

[Flutterbye]

Someone said recently on on of these threads that Graco pushchairs were cheap and rubbish quality (or effective words). I know they're cheap but I've got an ancient one (8 years old) that is still going strong and thinking about getting a new one for my next child.

What do you think?

I had one and it lasted forever, looked good too and was nice and cheap.

I've never had one so they could be the best buggy in the world but IMO they just look cheap.

Obviously, I am a buggy snob

Well I bought a v basic one for dd five years ago and it is going strong-now in Turkey being used to transport a 6 year old boy with CP around occasionally!
For £69 it did the job-dd had it from birth to three.

My Graco buggy is 4 years old now and going strong. Everyone that pushes it remarks on how smooth it is too I like the way they look paranoid

Graco were given the largest-ever fine imposed by the US consumer protection authorities last year. They produced faulty pushchairs and other products and failed to carry out proper safety recalls, leading to the death of (IIRC) two children and hundreds of injuries.

Don't know if this affects the UK products, but wouldn't touch a company that can cheerfully kill and injure children with a bargepole.

In the same vein M&P carseats have been slated by Which? Does that mean ALL of their products shouldn't be trusted? These big companies are all going to have gremlins, we don't know all of the facts in the Graco instance I don't think they can be written off that easily, especially when so many parents in the UK and other countries happily use their pushchairs for many years.

Mine went strong for two children so I bought another for the arrival of ds2. He's fast approaching two now and we've had no bother with it. I'm no buggy snob - I'm a true believer in value for money and as far as I'm concerned, you can't beat these for that.

The Which? thing is a bit different - although M&P should act on the test results. W? use more demanding tests than the legal requirement - from memory, 40 mph crashes instead of 30, and side-on collisions as well as front.

Graco were found guilty of completely irresponsible behaviour in failing to recall products that had clearly killed and injured children.

Btw, M&P may be expensive, but they pay their staff minimum wage only.

Its up to you really. We got a Graco travel system that has done DS and DD. DD still uses the pushchair in winter and DNephew is currently in the car seat. Think there is some snobbery about it really.

i have the mothercare one that is based on the graco so might be different but i think it is the same.

We find it very heavy to lift, carry and even to push. All my mates puschairs are a lot lighter to pish even double ones.

I've had the City Sport for neaerly 2yrs now - had no problems with it, and lighter than my old umbrella pushchair!

Can't remember, psycho, was going on what Flutterbye said.

I always had Graco... until I discovered MacLaren. But only the American-made Gracos are junk. The European ones are great (but not fashionable if you care about that.)

Mama & Papas protech DID do well in the Which? reprt (from 9kg) (best car seat from 9kg without ISOFIX!)

on the other hand these car seats all appear in the DO NOT BUY OR USE 'almost dangerouse' section:
M&P Navetta (group O)
M&P Elan (from 9kg)
M&P Passaggio (from 15kg)

Had a Graco Citi lite or whatever it was called (maybe Sport?) and thought it was great. Lasted really well, cheap, and light enough to lift up and down stairs on the underground etc. But yes, loads of snobbery about buggies about.

I've got a Graco top of the range travel system. In South Africa, they are considered the best you can buy and I must say it's been brilliant. The car seat part of the system was fantastic and I find the pram to be very easy to push and even easier to fold. Don't know about cheap - cost me a fortune. Definitely the European Graco as all the instructions on the pram are in Italian.