Wham! Bam! Thank, you pram!

Back in pre–baby boomlet days, strollers were, well, strollers. But a new breed of parent has burst onto the scene, and she's not about to accessorize her Blahniks with a hand-me-down Aprica umbrella. Presto! Stroller style is here, and with it, parental stroller angst. Case in point is the $730 Bugaboo, which has emerged as either the must-have for the have-it-all set or an object of scorn. In the sometimes catty (but often informative) Urban Baby chatroom, parents have talked about forming Bugaboo-free playgroups, only to be verbally attacked by passionate defenders of the weird-looking vehicle. Of course, New York living does pose unique challenges for baby-buggy users. So we decided to road test the Bug and a few of its high-end brethren to find out how they stand up to true, overcrowded, narrow-aisled, stair-filled life in the city.

Our scientifically selected panel included two harried parents and one active two-year-old passenger. A snug New York City apartment, cobblestoned streets, hard-to-navigate stores and assorted subway stations were the lab's defining elements. We tested luxe strollers—the Bugaboo Frog, Mountain Buggy Urban and Silver Cross Camden—as well as mid- and bargain-priced umbrella strollers (Baby Trend and Delta). Our basis for comparison was the Passenger's own Maclaren Quest. Here's the scoop.

Bugaboo Frog$730
This sleek postmodern Dutch stroller has a lightweight frame with two big 12-inch wheels and two small wheels. The comfy seat (or for infants, a bassinet) is a separate component, and you can easily flip the handle to face the seat in either direction. The Passenger liked the novelty of riding backward for the first time since he was an infant, but the stroller wasn't as easy to steer when the small wheels were in the rear.

Our first obstacle was the cobblestones: The Bugaboo ride was so smooth, we barely noticed going over curbs. Lightweight yet bulky, this stroller didn't fare well on the subway stair test, though. One of the detachable wheels fell off when we were coming up from an F-train station—fortunately, the wheel didn't roll down onto the third rail. Back home, the contraption folded up easily, but components (like the seat and the basket) must first be removed, which would make boarding a bus a nightmare.

Then again, this stroller probably wasn't designed for mass transit; it's more for cabbing around town or throwing into the back of the Cherokee for weekends upstate. The Bugaboo's whopping sticker price doesn't even include "optional" extras, such as a fairly roomy, covered undercarriage storage area ($121; there's no storage on the basic model) or bag clips, on which to hang a purse or groceries from the handle ($17 apiece; lack of bag-drapability is a major single-handled-stroller drawback). Other add-ons abound. This Bug's a little like a doorman building—the more you pay, the more expensive the extras.

Mountain Buggy Urban$360
An up-and-comer in the trendy market is the Mountain Buggy ($360), a New Zealand import that Albee's, the Upper West Side baby emporium, says is its current best-seller (of course, we were being persuaded to buy one at the time). Great suspension and three fat 12-inch wheels make the Mountain Buggy a cinch to maneuver, and it aced every other stroller we tried on the fold-up test. But size does matter: This buggy is too big for narrow local store aisles, doesn't fit in our jam-packed New York City closet, and though it's not heavy, it takes up a lot of space on subway stairs. And then there's the identity problem. While the Mountain Buggy looks like a jogging stroller (only one wheel in the front, long handles), it's no good for heavy-duty running (the wheels should be bigger). Which raises the question: Um, what's the point of having a large jogging stroller if you can't jog with it? Still, if space and cost aren't issues, the Buggy has a lot to recommend it.

Silver Cross Camden$240
English nannies have been pushing Silver Cross prams since 1877, and the U.K.-based company still carries a full line of them. Traditionally weighing in at 75 pounds, the carriages haven't been targeted at stair users; the company, however, now markets a more economical and practical urban stroller. Called the Camden, it provided the Passenger with his first tray-and-cup-holder stroller experience, so he was a convert. We weren't. The concept was nice, but the fact that one must remove the tray every time the stroller is folded (no room for unfolded strollers in our apartment)—and that the Passenger lives to throw things—meant the tray didn't get a lot of practical use. While the Camden is lightweight, sheer bulk knocked off points on the stair-climbing test. Yet despite its size, it rides smoothly and stands erect when folded—a major plus. The brakes are easier to lock than those on the Passenger's Maclaren—sometimes annoyingly easy, like when we accidentally locked them mid-stroll.

Baby Trend EuroTrend$60
Baby Trend's EuroTrend certainly gave the Passenger's Maclaren a run for its money (his Quest, a mid-level model, currently retails for $200). Unlike cheaper umbrella strollers (or the $100 Maclaren version), the Euro reclines and comes with a hood. (A note about the hood: Amazon.com customers complained that the hood breaks easily. We could never get ours to stay on properly.) Like other umbrellas, the Euro folds up compactly, occupying the same amount of closet space as a large winter coat, and it's reasonably easy to tote up and down stairs or maneuver on the sidewalk. On the other hand, the brakes kick on way too easily, the stroller is a bit stiff when folding and it's not great on cobblestones. Plus, we're guessing that it wouldn't survive the city's wear and tear as well as a Maclaren.

Delta$14
The Delta is a standard-issue cheap umbrella stroller. It's small, it's light and it's easy to hang in a closet. And unlike the "free" umbrellas that Toys "R" Us periodically gives away when you buy $50 or $75 worth of stuff, this one has a hood. The downside? When you're holding a cell phone in one hand and trying to steer with the other, it becomes something of a pedestrian hazard; the stroller scores a B for "bumpy" on the cobblestone test, and it would probably wear out long before you're ready to give up buggy pushing—but then, you could always blow $14 on another one.

The bottom line? People tend to grow attached to their strollers. One father we know was hesitant to be seen with a Bugaboo but now swears by it. While the smoother rides of the Bug and the Mountain Buggy (and to a lesser extent, the Silver Cross) were nice, we still prefer our Maclaren Quest. It has the right combination of maneuverability, ease of operation, comfort (the seat does recline, though it covers up the storage basket when it's in the rear position) and storage ease. Plus, the Passenger likes to climb into it himself, which he couldn't do as easily with the high-end strollers. Soon enough, he'll be perambulating around town under his own power.