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Bugaboo Cub review: "Pushing it is an absolute dream" — but is it practical for everyday life?

Find out how the Bugaboo Cub performs for comfort, steering, folding, storage and everyday family life in our parent-tested review.

Published: September 25, 2026 at 10:14 AM

Our Rating

4.3

A star rating of 4.3 out of 5.

GBP £749 RRP

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In a nutshell

Bugaboo's more affordable all-terrain offering provides an incredibly smooth and comfortable ride thanks to tyres and suspension that handle kerbs and bumps with ease – and has the easiest five-point harness I've ever come across!

What we tested

Overall Rating

4.3

A star rating of 4.3 out of 5.

Pros

Cons

The Bugaboo Cub is the more affordable all-terrain option in Bugaboo’s pushchair range, aimed at families who want the smooth ride and larger wheels of a full-size buggy without paying for the brand’s top-end Fox 5 Renew.

Suitable from birth with the carrycot and later converting to a reversible seat, it uses the same frame for both configurations, helping to reduce the amount of bulky kit you need to store.

With an RRP of £749, it sits towards the premium end of the all-terrain pushchair market. That puts it close in price to the Thule Urban Glide 3, £749.99, but the Cub includes both a carrycot and seat in its 2-in-1 package. It also comes in £304 cheaper than Bugaboo’s £1,099 Fox 5 Renew, making it a more affordable way to get a full-size Bugaboo all-terrain pushchair.

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About our parent tester Tui tested the Bugaboo Cub on daily walks around Liverpool’s parks, while running errands on suburban streets, taking trips into the city centre, travelling by bus and train and doing nursery drop-offs with her 2-year-old and 5-month-old. She tested the seat unit, set up the bassinet and checked the fold, basket, car boot fit, steering, brakes and comfort to push. The mum-of-two worked as a journalist for regional newspapers and international press agencies for eight years before moving into charity work, and has reviewed several other items for MadeForMums.

2 pictures of toddler in Bugaboo Fox Cub pushchair and reviewer pushing baby in pushchair

How easy is the Bugaboo Cub to assemble?

The Bugaboo Cub was straightforward to assemble: it only took me around 10 minutes to put together the chassis and bassinet — although it did arrive in a lot of (cardboard) packaging, so unboxing took a while.

I winced when I spotted that the instructions were the type which include no actual words, just diagrams (not my forte) but they were surprisingly easy to follow.

My first impressions were great — I loved the stylish look of the 'Stormy Blue' colourway, and the seat immediately looked comfortable and well-padded.

2 pictures of Bugaboo Fox Cub pushchair with seat unit attached

How easy is the Bugaboo Cub carrycot to use?

The bassinet was easy to set up and attach — although I found removing it from the chassis a little trickier. I think Bugaboo's memory buttons are supposed to make the process easier (you click one on each side of the chassis and then lift the bassinet up), but I found them a little sticky and it took me a few attempts to get the hang of using them.

Once on, the carrycot was very secure on the frame and didn't feel like it was going anywhere. It looked comfortable and spacious inside and would have offered plenty of room for an average-sized baby. However, as my 5 month old was already close to the weight limit and desperate to be looking around, I moved him straight to the seat option.

How easy is it to convert the Bugaboo Cub from carrycot to seat?

Switching from the bassinet to the seat unit takes a little more work than on pushchairs with two separate units, because the Cub uses the same frame for both.

The seat hardware, footrest, fabric and harness are added to the carrycot frame to create the seat when your baby is too big for the bassinet. While I grumbled slightly at this extra step when setting up the pram, it does mean there's no big, bulky carrycot to store once this element is outgrown. I managed to convert the bassinet to the seat on my own in around 15 minutes.

Once attached to the chassis the seat felt very secure, although again due to the clunkiness of the memory buttons, I didn't find it particularly easy to switch between parent-facing and world-facing modes. This meant my toddler was left looking at me, instead of his beloved buses, when my boys used the pram interchangeably.

Bugaboo Fox Cub pushchair built with seat unit attached

How comfortable is the Bugaboo Cub seat?

Both my sons seemed very comfortable and supported in the well-padded seat, and both napped easily in the pram.

I loved how easy the harness was to adjust – the whole system is on plastic tracks, so you simply pull the mechanism up and down to change the harness height. No more fiddly threading harness straps through different holes, hurray!

The recline functionality was great for naps on the go. However, one of my pet peeves is baby product features which aren't manageable with one hand, and unfortunately the Cub falls foul of this.

To recline the seat, you must press both circular side buttons at once and then push it back – you need at least two hands, plus potentially a shoulder nudge at the same time. It did make me question whether the designers who came up with this particular feature had tested it with a crying, squirming baby on their hip... the need for one-handed recline buttons is a hill I'll die on!

2 pictures of baby in Bugaboo Fox Cub pushchair

How easy is the Bugaboo Cub to push and steer?

Pushing the Cub is an absolute dream. Its huge all-terrain tyres and chassis' advanced suspension feel like they should make for a much heavier pram, but it weighs in at 11.2kg.

I could easily steer my toddler in it one-handed while also holding a water bottle and babywearing (multi-tasking mum problems). It handled high kerbs, bumpy park paths, city centre manoeuvring, grass and uneven paving slabs like an absolute champ. One grandparent described it as 'like driving a Rolls Royce in pram form' - high praise indeed.

The handlebar was really comfortable, easy to adjust and great for tall people – my 6ft 2in husband appreciated how long it stretched, as he finds some pram handlebars make him hunch forward.

How easy is it to fold and store?

One particularly useful feature of the Cub is that it can fold with the bassinet attached — something I hadn't encountered before, and which is so useful for saving space. However, on the whole I found folding it a little fiddly.

First, you need to engage the trigger mechanism on both sides to fold the seat or bassinet down, and then you pull up the chassis to complete the fold. Two hands are definitely needed for this process. Despite watching several videos whch made the process look easy, I didn't find it as intuitive as the fold on some of my other prams and it took me quite a few goes to get the hang of it.

The fact that it stands on its own once folded is handy for storage though, and it did fit fine in my Dacia Duster's boot.

Bugaboo Fox Cub pushchair folded and close up of full basket

How practical is the Bugaboo Cub for everyday use?

Busy pavements were fine due to the nippiness of the steering, and its lightness meant it was certainly manageable for errands and local walks. The generous 10kg capacity basket had plenty of room to pick up shopping or be crammed with the picnic blanket, snack bag, changing bag, water bottle, football, travel potty, toys and books needed for a day in the park.

At 60cm wide, the Cub isn't unusually wide for a full-size all-terrain pushchair, but its substantial frame still felt sizeable in the narrow hallway of my Victorian terrace – there wasn't a lot of wiggle room. It fitted fine through standard doorways though, and I didn't have an issue in most shops, although some smaller cafes felt a little tight.

2 pictures of baby in Bugaboo Fox Cub pushchair in park and on bus

How easy is the Bugaboo Cub harness to use?

A feature of the Bugaboo Cub that I particularly loved was the five-point harness. I don't know why I've never used a harness that doesn't involve having to slide or clip little pieces of plastic together first, but now I'm sad thinking about how many hours of my life I've wasted doing just that.

All four grandparents also commented on how being able to clip each point into the main harness separately made it so much easier to do quickly – especially while trying to keep a wriggly toddler still.

How easy are the canopy and brake to use?

The sun visor hood felt a little flimsy to pull forward, although it provided good protection during the weeks-long heatwaves we found ourselves in.

The brake was smooth to press and easy to use, and felt reassuringly secure once engaged.

How easy is the Bugaboo Cub to clean?

The seat and bassinet fabrics are good quality but still feel breathable. Most importantly when juggling two children, the fabrics are wipe-clean, and I found the pushchair easy to keep clean and looking good.

Because the wheels are fairly smooth, I found they collected much less dirt than those of my other all-terrain pram. However, the gathers in the seat unit created a sneaky hiding place for toddler snack crumbs and needed a regular wipe.

How durable does it feel?

This definitely feels like a durable pram. Most elements feel high-end and more similar in quality to Bugaboo's more expensive prams.

The frame feels sturdy and well-supported, and, other than a few minor bugbears like the flimsiness of the sun visor, everything feels built to last.

2 pictures of Bugaboo Fox Cub pushchair with seat unit attached

What’s in the box?

Bugaboo Fox Cub pushchair parts and instruction booklet

Is the Bugaboo Cub worth the money?

Yes. The Bugaboo Cub RRPs at £749 — more than £300 cheaper than Bugaboo's more premium all-terrain offering, the Fox 5 Renew, which costs £1099.

Yes, I had some minor grumbles with the design of some of the features, but fundamentally this is a quality pram and a pleasure to push. As a mum who lives close to multiple parks, has a dog and currently spends lots of time outdoors, but also lives in a suburban area full of coffee shops, I found it coped well with the mix of terrain I tested it on, while still being nimble enough to navigate a cafe or supermarket with relative ease.

2 pictures of baby in Bugaboo Fox Cub pushchair

Where can I buy the Bugaboo Cub?

It is available from John Lewis and Mamas&Papas

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MadeForMums verdict:

While features like the recline and the sun canopy gave me a little cause for consternation, I really enjoyed testing the Bugaboo Cub.

With its gorgeously smooth ride, sizeable basket, easy-to-adjust straps, brilliantly straightforward harness and comfy padded seat, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to families who want Bugaboo’s all-terrain performance without stretching to the more expensive Fox 5 Renew.

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Authors

Tui Benjamin Thorp

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