Mamas & Papas Ocarro Review: Is It Worth It Second-Hand?

Yeah, I agree. Buying a pram / travel system for your baby is a nightmare. When my wife and I first looked at pushchairs, I nearly choked on my coffee. A brand-new Mamas & Papas Ocarro 2 Travel System with all the bells and whistles can easily push past £1,500. Which is a hell of a lot of money when you’re budgeting for all the other stuff you need for a newborn.

For a piece of equipment your kid is going to poop in, sick in, spill milk on, and outgrow in a couple of years, that amount of money to spend on something we might not even use that often felt crazy.

So, when my wife’s work colleague offered us her old Ocarro for £150, we bit her hand off. Her colleague’s mum had originally bought it brand new, and it was only 2 years old, high quality gear sitting in a spare room collecting dust.

Now that we’ve put it through its paces in the North East for almost 10 months, here is my honest dad review of the Mamas & Papas Ocarro and why buying it used might actually be the smartest decision you make.

The Unexpected Perk: Curing “New Pram Anxiety”

Before I talk about the wheels or folding it up, I have to talk about the psychological win. I call it New Pram Anxiety.

If you spend £1,500 of your hard earned money on a pristine, brand-new travel system, you are going to treat it like a luxury sports car. You’ll flinch every time you squeeze it through a narrow doorframe. You’ll wince when the aluminium frame scratches against the car boot. You’ll hesitate before taking it through mud or gravel, even to the shops.

Buying a pram second-hand for £150 completely fixes that.

Because we paid a fraction of the price, I actually use it like you should, and more:

• Zero panic in the boot: Tossing it into the car alongside a weekly shop, and other baby stuff? Oh no i’ve scratched the chrome a bit! No stress.
• Mucky paths ready: Unfinished paths, stones, and rubble? Bring it on.
• Real-life durability: It gets scuffed, it gets mucky, and it handles the chaos of daily life without us worrying about it.

You get all the build quality and premium feel of a £1,500 pram, but with zero emotional feeling when it inevitably gets dirty or scratched, which is will, you have a newborn, things get messy so easy.

The Initial Setup: The Strip, Wash, and Rebuild Process

So yes. I hear you nay sayers. “You’ll need to clean it first!” Yup, we did, because we bought it second-hand, even if it was from a work friend, the very first thing we did before our daughter arrived was strip all the fabric down to give it a deep clean. I think we put it through the wash twice for peace of mind.

• The Good News: The fabrics on the Ocarro are great quality and washed up like brand new.
• The Honest Dad Warning: Taking it apart is easy… but you do need a screwdriver, getting it all unscrewed and then clipped back together is a bit of work. Take pictures on your phone so you can refer back to them so you know how it goes back together!

It took about an hour, a bit of swearing, remembering where everything went to rebuild it. But once everything was back in in place, the chassis felt rock solid. If you’re buying any pram / travel system second-hand, just remember you will need an afternoon free to do the “strip and rebuild” process.

How Does the Mamas & Papas Ocarro Perform in Real Life?

Here is my honest breakdown of how it handles real-world conditions:

1. Build Quality & The “New Build Estate” Test (4/5)

Let’s be honest: the suspension isn’t soft or bouncy, it’s actually pretty solid. It’s built well, but the Ocarro is clearly designed for finished pavements, supermarkets, and shopping centres, not off roading.

However, we live on a new build estate where the roads aren’t finished yet and we have to walk the dog around it every day. For 10 months on my 7:00AM routine walks, this pram has been dragged over bare concrete, loose stones and unpaved pathways. While it gives a firmer ride over the rough stuff, the frame is built like a tank. It hasn’t rattled loose, the wheels haven’t given up, and it has survived daily abuse that would have destroyed a flimsier stroller.

2. The Fold & Boot Space (4/5)

For a heavy duty pushchair, the fold is surprisingly good. You can fold it with the seat unit attached in both front and parent-facing modes. It is fairly heavy to lift into the boot, it sits flat-ish, but it does take up quite a bit of space in the boot.

3. Comfort for Baby (5/5)

The padded seat is massive and reclines completely flat, which is great when she needed an unexpected nap on the go. The extendable hood is also big, great for blocking out wind or keeping the sun out of her eyes during pram walks.

Mamas & Papas Ocarro: My Dad Verdict

Pros	Cons
Built like a tank, survived 10 months of rough roads and concrete	Suspension is near enough solid
Premium, durable fabrics that wash well	Reassembling the fabric frame takes patience
Huge lie-flat seat & giant sun hood	Heavy to lift into the car boot

Is the Mamas & Papas Ocarro Worth Buying Second-Hand?

In short, yes.

The Ocarro might be meant for smooth tarmac and shopping malls, but buying it second-hand means you won’t care when you have to drag it through a muddy construction site or toss it into a dirty boot.

If you can find an Ocarro on Facebook Marketplace (just looked, there are loads of them, some as low as £35), or through friends/colleagues for under £200, grab it. You get a robust travel system that handles real-life without the large £1,500 price tag.