Strollers for small trunks

[LouLou]

DH and I are having a baby in July! Long term (after a few years), we plan to adopt several children.  When that time comes, we will get a big, beautiful minivan.  A minivan seems like overkill for one baby though, no matter how much I love them.

I currently drive a 2011 Chevrolet Aveo sedan.  The lack of trunk space is pretty irrelevant to my childfree lifestyle, but I'm worried about fitting a stroller in there.  What are the best strollers for small sedans?

[abhe8]

Umbrella style. Tons of choices. :) not good fit a newborn, but by 3 to 4 months it will be fine. Congrats!!

[marty998]

Do they even make those fold up little ones anymore?


Most of the strollers I see these days are big enough for an adult to sit in and ride. Like Mack trucks on a footpath.

[serpentstooth]

Do they even make those fold up little ones anymore?


Most of the strollers I see these days are big enough for an adult to sit in and ride. Like Mack trucks on a footpath.

I have the Hummer SUV of strollers I love that thing. It's a Bugaboo Buffaloo and it will actually fit in the trunk of a compact, but you're not going to get much else in there along with it But when I'm with my parents in the suburbs it gets parked in the garage and ignored. I have an umbrella stroller that I got for free (Uppababy G-Luxe), but usually I just wear the baby in a Tula carrier when out and about, which is awesome, amazing and wonderful.

[MayDay]

City mini is a great in between stroller. Folds up small, but has a lot of features of the big strollers. Great resale too.

[tweezers]

We loved our UPPAbaby G-lite.  Folds up small, light, and tall enough that my 6'2" husband could use it without hunching over.  Pricier for an "umbrella" stroller, but it survived 2 kids, baggage handling on 100+ flights, and I was still able to sell it for $70 on craigslist.   

[ysette9]

I second the Baby Jogger City Mini. Great little stroller that is very maneuverable and has the wonderful one-hand fold flat feature that I love so dearly. It fits nicely in the trunk of our WV golf with plenty of room for other stuff as well.

Just note that despite the brand name, the City Mini is not an actual jogging stroller. For that we have a true jogging stroller by the same brand which is definitely bigger, but fantastic for running as well as walks around our non sidewalk-y neighborhood.

[mamagoose]

We have the Cosco Umbria stroller - bought it at Target but they don't carry it anymore, here it is at Toys R Us:

http://www.toysrus.com/buy/lightweight-strollers/cosco-umbria-stroller-zigzag-cv251bsz-23529166

I love this stroller b/c it does not fold up hot-dog style like other umbrella strollers, it folds over hamburger-style (folds over at its "waist"), so it's roughly the size of a flat box, similar to a large laptop bag. I also love that it's one straight bar across instead of the two curly handles, it's easy for my toddler to push when she wants to. Another super cool trick with this stroller is that you can use it as a "travel system" aka if you have the infant carrier bucket-style carseat, you can loop the handle of the carseat over the handle of the stroller and voila, you've got a stroller for your tiny baby & you didn't have to take the sleeping baby out of their carseat. I saw this trick on the Duggars, genius. By the time your baby is heavy enough that baby + carseat > umbrella stroller weight limit, the baby is most likely old enough to ride regularly in the umbrella stroller anyway. My daughter liked it too b/c she got to face outwards when we put it that way. Image showing what I mean (this is such a neat parenting hack):

https://www.google.com/search?q=infant+car+seat+on+umbrella+stroller&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=979&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwifo7aVsu7JAhVGZCYKHZXPAzsQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=6dl9GBN1gMsGfM%3A

It will save you from spending extra money on this contraption:

http://www.target.com/p/baby-trend-snap-n-go-ex-universal-infant-car-seat-carrier/-/A-14216874?ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=14216874&ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Baby%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Baby&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9011785&gclid=CKalwJqy7skCFYYdgQodQyYEgA&gclsrc=aw.ds

[relena]

I love our two maclaren strollers (one for each kid). I bought the maclaren triumph off craigslist for $40, and a maclaren volo for $50 new. They're small, compact, lightweight, and folds up easily.

[LouLou]

Thanks for all the suggestions!  The only strollers I've seen before are the giant jogging ones, and the ultra flimsy umbrella strollers that would only be appropriate for a toddler.  This whole category of nice compact strollers is new to me.

The brand names are great.  I'm already seeing lots of options on craigslist!

[Ceridwen]

Third vote for City Mini! We absolutely love ours.  It has served us really well for 4 years and counting of almost daily use.  I think it's the best stroller on the market.

[EmFrugal]

Three babies later, I have to say the heavy luxury strollers are just not worth it for the car. Only if you use them for actual exercising or a ton of walking in an urban area (or to run errands car free). We had an Uppababy Vista that was great for NYC but stupid in a suburb once we movef ;) I sold it for a double BOB that never goes in the trunk and is used to run/walk for exercise and run local errands and do pre-school pickups on foot.

If you don't plan to do hard core walking/running and will be driving mostly, go for a snap and go that fits an infant bucket seat. Then upgrade to a durable umbrella like a Maclaren. Our Maclaren is so easy to use in the trunk compared to the heavy Vista we used to have. And the snap and go for infants is a breeze.

[alwayslearning]

City mini is a great in between stroller. Folds up small, but has a lot of features of the big strollers. Great resale too.

+1 On this. The city mini is light and much smaller than other strollers. The best part is you can fold it one handed. I got my stroller from a garage sale for $40 and it looks brand new!

[ponyespresso]

Our Mountain Buggy Nano is awesome. it tri-folds and even fits in the overhead compartment on the airplane. Also very light like umbrella strollers.