Baby Jogger City Tour 2 Stroller Review

Baby Jogger City Tour 2

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How it Compares

The Baby Jogger City Tour 2 is the lightest of the upscale strollers produced by the Baby Jogger brand. It is a quality stroller available at a reasonable price. It scores in the middle of the pack when compared to other umbrella and lightweight strollers in this group.

The original version of the City Tour did not work for infants but the City Tour 2 has infant car seat adapters available. Or it can be purchased as a travel system with the car seat included.

Note: Despite the word “Jogger” in the product name, this is not a jogging stroller.

The double stroller version of the City Tour 2 is popular because of its light weight.

Response to Criticism

We reviewed all of the critical customer reviews about the City Tour and compared them to our own experience in the table below. Some complaints are legitimate and others we disagree with.

Criticism	Our Experience
Not easy to fold or unfold	It averages 4 seconds to fold and 5 to unfold. It generally folds/unfolds easily but there are times it catches when folding or unfolding and requires a second hand to get it to work.
Noisy and bumpy ride	In our ride smoothness test, it was in the middle of the pack. In our noise test, it is one of the quietest lightweight strollers.
Uncomfortable seat	The seat padding is not thickest or thinnest of those we tested.
Front wheels shake	We haven’t had problems with shaking front wheels.
Taller baby’s heads touch top	The seat height is 16.5″ which is lower than most others. It is not sized for bigger or taller children.
No suspension in wheels	True.
Harness buckle difficult to use	We found the buckle easy to operate.
Front-wheel quality problems	We haven’t experienced problems with the front wheels.
Velcro on peekaboo window is loud	Yes it is. You have to keep it open rather than open it when your little one is sleeping.
Doesn’t stay folded	Agreed. Unless I push down hard after it is folded, the latch doesn’t catch to keep it folded.
The brake doesn’t keep wheels stopped	Agreed. Sometimes the brake doesn’t engage fully. When it does engage, if I pull the stroller toward me, the brake disengages.
Tips over with diaper bag on handle	The AAP recommends never to hang anything on the handle of a stroller. However, this complaint is correct. The empty stroller easily tips backward when weight is hung on the handle.
Limited sun coverage	The sun shade stops short or where knees bend, so the legs are not protected.
Upright position is at a bad angle	The seat is angled at 64 degrees when upright which is comfortable and provides good visibility. It can be reclined if desired.
Heavy and difficult to turn	It is 14 lbs which is average in the umbrella stroller category. It steers well even when loaded with 40 lbs.
Storage basket small	True. It is on the smaller end at .51 cubic feet.

Testing and Research

We identified the top 20 lightweight wagons on the market that had strong customer reviews and met our size and weight criteria. We purchased them and executed more than 100 tests for a realistic, head-to-head comparison of the most important factors: weight, folded size, usability for parents, comfort and usability for kids, folding, maneuverability, and quality.

Weight and Folded Size

At 14 lbs the City Tour 2 is in the middle of the group for weight. It is a small 2.2 cubic feet when folded which makes it one of the more compact-fold travel strollers. Many people buy it for its easy transportation and use as an everyday stroller.

Steering and Maneuverability

We found the City Tour 2 to steer and turn responsively in our obstacle course and in normal usage. Ease of Steering:

The front wheels are only 5″ in diameter, so we were surprised that the stroller did well compared to most on rough terrain and uneven surfaces. I don’t recommend the City Tour 2 for anything but streets or sidewalks on a normal basis because the wheels are not built for abuse.

Unlike most of the strollers we tested, this one does not have spring suspension in any of the wheel assemblies.

It is a winner when it comes to jumping curbs requiring only 8 kg of downward force on the handle:

The City Tour 2 is one of the best strollers as far as staying on a straight line when pushing. It can be very annoying to pull against a stroller that tries to veer to the side. Veer Tendency testing (higher numbers are better):

The front wheels can be locked in place to reduce veering for longer, straight walks.

Some parents have complained about wheel vibration. In our test, we found the vibration to be about average compared to other lightweight strollers.

Taking all of our steering and maneuverability tests into consideration, the City Tour 2 is a top performer in this category.

Overall Maneuverability Rating:

Ease of Use

Storage baskets are one of the most important features of a stroller, and umbrella strollers naturally have limited storage capacity.

We can cram a fairly full backpack under the seat but it requires stretching the elastic to the max. We have to bend down to access the basket, and especially if we are pushing smaller things like wipes or diapers to the front to make room for a purse or small bag in the back.

Surprisingly the basket is rated to hold 15 lbs compared to most lightweight strollers that hold 10 lbs or less.

The basket is the only available storage, there is no compartment for a mobile phone or other small items. Also missing are cup holders or a snack tray.

The City Tour comes with a nice travel bag. I have to work both to get it to fit in the carry bag and then to zip it up. Once in the bag, it is comfortable to carry with the padded strap. If you don’t want to bother with the bag, it can be carried by the stroller handle.

We like the peekaboo window, though as mentioned above, it is held closed by velcro that is noisy when open it. So in order to avoid waking baby it’s better to just leave it open.

The handle is 38.5″ inches high which could be uncomfortable for taller parents. It is not adjustable. It is made of firm rubber and has a nice, sturdy feel.

We unboxed and assembled the stroller in about 3 minutes. The only assembly required was inserting the wheels into place. The manual is ok but we don’t care for the words and pictures being on separate pages.

I like the buckle. The hip and shoulder strap clips stay together so that you only have to click two pieces in, not four. The buckle release is not too firm or soft.

I don’t care for the harness strap adjustment because it takes some fiddling to shorten the hip straps. The shoulder straps require rethreading as your child grows.

The City Tour 2 has a single brake that stops both rear wheels. It requires very little force to engage and even less to release. It’s easy on bare feet!

We originally rated the effectiveness 10 out of 10 but after using it for a while we found that the brake would release itself whenever the stroller was pushed or pulled, without touching the brake pedal. We dropped the rating to 8.

The handle has a little motion when pushing where it is joined to the frame with a hinge. This makes the stroller feel less sturdy.

The seat reclines with one hand and needs two hands to raise back up.

The Baby Jogger City Tour 2 is currently only available in jet black. These accessories can be purchased separately:

• Car seat adapter (for Graco and Baby Jogger infant car seats) It is compatible with the City GO and many Graco Snugride car seats. Check compatibility.
• Belly bar
• Parent console

Folding and Transport

Our “How to fold the Baby Jogger City Tour 2” video:

This is a one-hand fold stroller but it has some quirks that add seconds to the fold process. On average it takes us 4 seconds to fold and 5 seconds to unfold the stroller.

It folds by sliding a release and pressing the fold button on the handle. You then push the handle forward and continue pushing it down to the ground. If the handle is not pressed down fully, it often fails to lock into its folded position.

Unfolding the stroller requires releasing the latch, separating the frame so that the latch doesn’t reengage, then pulling the handle up and snapping the stroller out to its extended, upright form.

The stroller does not stand and cannot be pulled in its folded position. It is a very compact stroller at 2.2 cubic feet when folded. The folded dimensions are 22″ x 20″ x 7″ which is a bit larger than the typical 22″ x 14″ x 9″ size requirements for an overhead bin. However some airlines may accept it, and it is smaller with the wheels popped off.

Here’s how it compares to the Baby Jogger City Mini GT2 in folded size:

See our full review of the Baby Jogger City Mini GT2.

Kid Comfort

We tested for bumps and vibrations with a vibration meter. The City Tour 2 was average in the smoothness of its ride. The lack of spring suspension probably contributes to a bumpier ride. Lower numbers are better in the table below:

The weight limit for this stroller is 45 lbs and height limit is 40″. The seat height is 16.5″. By comparison, the Bugaboo Butterfly has a 22″ high seat back and deeper seat. This stroller is best for smaller toddlers.

The seats are sparsely padded. I can easily feel the plastic board through the padding. The padding behind the buckle is helpful to prevent burns when the plastic gets hot in the sun.

The seat in upright position sits at a reasonable 64 degree angle. It has multiple recline positions and fully reclines to 26 degrees, which is of course not flat, but is back far enough for good napping. When the leg rest is raised it makes a nice, extended nap space, as well as calf support.

The UV 50 canopy doesn’t provide much sun coverage. There is a little more protection when the seat is reclined.

Quality and Safety

Baby Jogger strollers meet or exceed ASTM and/or EN1888 testing standards. Nevertheless, we did some tip-over and pinch-point testing as a comparison with other strollers.

We found a few places where little fingers could be pinched, or worse, near the hinges. This is typical of most strollers. You always want to keep children a few feet away when folding and unfolding.

In our tip-over testing, this stroller tipped over backward with a 12 lb bag hanging from the handle. This was true for most of the umbrella strollers we tested.

In the sideways tip over test, the City Tour 2 was about average in terms of the amount of weight swing it took to tip it over to the side.

We found the parts and fabric to be high-quality as is typical for Baby Jogger gear. The wheels are not the best constructed.

We were a bit frustrated with the folding mechanism but don’t know whether it is a design or quality issue.

The City Tour 2 was among the quietest strollers when we measured the average decibel levels of sound over a standardized course. Average Decibels in our sound test: