The Cosatto T4 Extreme was the pushchair we ended up with when my son was 3 months old, after a spate of charity shop 'bargains' proved to have been given away for a reason! We also had a Graco Metrosport which I found too lightweight, with a feeble brake and it rattled a lot, but that's another story! Anyway, we went to our nearest 'nursery experts' and we were totally confused, as it was our first time...no idea what to get, except not the ones we had already tried.

We were eventually shown this, and our price bracket took a rather unreal leap just to consider it...at the time we didn't know what we were getting for the money! It cost £220. br>
I instantly liked the very fluffy and pleasant coloured footmuff etc., which looked so cosy and comfy. When I tried to push it in the shop it wobbled from side to side, but I was told that on a path it would be fine, as we would be going faster. This was true. Well, we went back the next day, and bought it.

I was not happy at first, because I hadn't been told it wasn't suitable for little babies. This is due to the backrest not going flat. I decided to keep using it, but with the addition of a floppy old feather cushion, which filled the 'hollow' under him nicely for a few weeks, until I felt he was big enough not to mind the dip - the 'seat' part sloped back, so the shape was a bit like those old tipping silver cross pushchairs, which made this possible.

Anyway, we got a lot of 'ooh posh' comments and looks from people, which made me uncomfortable, but it was actually worth it. Yes, it does look like a designer buggy, and I wasn't fond of the streamlined 'I'm really a car' effect, but I imagine it may have been designed to appeal to the man in the house and get him pushing!? It certainly is built like a tank. I am writing this 'in memoriam' a few weeks after consigning ours to the tip. It withstood a daily roughing up from my now 3 1/2 year old son, who is the most active and messy child you can imagine. The only bits that went, were 1) the brake seized very recently, but I daresay with enough WD40 would have lasted us a bit longer; 2) the seat liner went very grey and looked awful, I just couldn't get it clean, even though it was machine washable...we were too much of a match for that, but it never fell apart. And 3) the hood wore through. This is my own fault. There are no pockets on the back for bottles of milk, purse etc. and I always put them in the hood instead. This really weakened the fabric and eventually the lining started to peel off, but it did take 3 years of continual battering to do so. It is a shame replacement parts are not available for this model now. I did try..

I have missed out so much in this review. OK, it has a very large and easy to reach underbasket, no probs at all with this, despite using our buggy as a small car to carry old bricks and (yes really) an iron safe we found on a skip. My son would also stand up on the back bar surrounding this basket, as it was solid and he got a nice ride. You could use it as a toddler hitchhiker type thing, if you had two kids, though the baby would have to sit up.
The handle adjusts easily and is very strong, no slipping positions. The back reclines and raises by pulling or releasing a side strap, very good indeed as it does it slowly so doesn't wake anyone up.

Down side... This requires a big house. You can't just fold it up as a) it will fall over and b) it will be about the same size as when fully engaged, so not much point. It will only fit in a big car boot, but we walked everywhere so rarely struggled with this aspect. The wheels do come off; the back ones are easy, the front not so. They do get puncture, we ended up using 'slime' to fill them, which helped a lot. But they make it extremely comfy for any sort of surface - we have lots of cobbles round here, no problem at all.

The steering. This was interesting. It was a breeze most of the time. Weight distribution is terrific. It fell over only once in a shop, when my son climbed up the back; well he always did, but he must have gone a bit further than normal! People would say, 'is that safe?' and I'd just nod and smile. It was like a portable playground!

However, There were often issues with that front double wheel. For instance, when crossing a road, you might stand rocking the pushchair backwards and forwards a bit while you wait to cross. Bad idea with this one! The castor would swivel when you pulled it backwards towards you, so it was in 'reverse' mode. Then a gap came in the traffic, you would push ahead, only to find yourself going sideways or round in a circle, as the castor tried to swerve itself back round to forwards gear! Oh my. We had a few near misses until I learned the trick of just tilting it back in a wheelie and running across, as soon as this started to happen, and sorting out the front wheel on the other side of the road.
It got very, very heavy to push once my son was about 2 1/2 - 3. He's a chunky boy, but it is also a very heavy pushchair. So anywhere with a camber, it would strain your arms a lot as you tried to keep it straight. This could be exhausting, but we are a couple of miles from town, so we had no choice, and it made up for it with the amount it could carry. Rather that than a flimsy buggy any day; they are just as hard at this age.

All in all, I would say yes, get it. They go very cheaply on eBay now, and I am expecting again, and amazed by all the other buggies I have tried out, their construction just looks weak compared to what we are used to. It was like scaffolding, but prettier. I want to get another one. (And this time, not put stuff in the hood!)