We got the Maxi-Cosi Elea when my son was 12 months old so we couldnt test the newborn functions but looking at the cocoon that comes with it, it certainly looks very snug and substantial for a newborn baby.
Both myself and my son just love the Elea, it is very stylish and smooth to push and 2 main things stand out for me:
- The ease/speed of folding. I also have a 4 year old daughter so am doing daily school runs. Previously, my only options were a lightweight pushchair that wasnt hugely comfortable for my baby, or a more comfortable travel system but one which the seat had to be taken off the base and therefore was much more fiddly and time consuming when regularly putting it up and down and in and out of the car. The Elea folds so easily in one quick gliding movement and so ticks every box.
- The comfortable seat. This is the first buggy (and we have tried several over the 2 children) that my son will fall asleep in regularly. He also looks very comfortable in the padded seat, that is very well shaped and also has a good footrest. This means that I can go out for the day without worrying that he will become grumpy when he needs a sleep. If put back into the lie flat position (and it is truly lie flat unlike many others) he very quickly nods off!
The basket is very accessible and a good size too, and there are 2 very useful clips to hang your shopping bags off at the top of the handlebar. It also is very easy to push with one hand, another very useful feature if holding the hand of an older child.
My husband loved the fact that the back just popped off the seat and enabled very easy adjustment of the straps. There are 3 individual strap anchor points to adjust the height and so it was a very quick and easy process.
Brakes are very easy to use, blue to go and red to brake. The hood is clever and has a zip in it to double the size and bring it right over for shade. The raincover is also very quick and easy to use, is just on elastic rather than having to rummage about for poppers etc which I have had on other buggies. Also its very easy to adjust the wheels from fixed to swivel just press a button on each side of the seat unit.
A couple of negatives but they are minor it is fairly heavy to lift into a high boot, it could have a small pocket on the back of the seat for keys etc when you dont want to carry a bag and it could have more padding on the handlebar but as I said these are minor issues as all in all I love the buggy and so does my son, which is the main thing as if he is comfy and not moaning we are all happy!!
Both myself and my son just love the Elea, it is very stylish and smooth to push and 2 main things stand out for me:
- The ease/speed of folding. I also have a 4 year old daughter so am doing daily school runs. Previously, my only options were a lightweight pushchair that wasnt hugely comfortable for my baby, or a more comfortable travel system but one which the seat had to be taken off the base and therefore was much more fiddly and time consuming when regularly putting it up and down and in and out of the car. The Elea folds so easily in one quick gliding movement and so ticks every box.
- The comfortable seat. This is the first buggy (and we have tried several over the 2 children) that my son will fall asleep in regularly. He also looks very comfortable in the padded seat, that is very well shaped and also has a good footrest. This means that I can go out for the day without worrying that he will become grumpy when he needs a sleep. If put back into the lie flat position (and it is truly lie flat unlike many others) he very quickly nods off!
The basket is very accessible and a good size too, and there are 2 very useful clips to hang your shopping bags off at the top of the handlebar. It also is very easy to push with one hand, another very useful feature if holding the hand of an older child.
My husband loved the fact that the back just popped off the seat and enabled very easy adjustment of the straps. There are 3 individual strap anchor points to adjust the height and so it was a very quick and easy process.
Brakes are very easy to use, blue to go and red to brake. The hood is clever and has a zip in it to double the size and bring it right over for shade. The raincover is also very quick and easy to use, is just on elastic rather than having to rummage about for poppers etc which I have had on other buggies. Also its very easy to adjust the wheels from fixed to swivel just press a button on each side of the seat unit.
A couple of negatives but they are minor it is fairly heavy to lift into a high boot, it could have a small pocket on the back of the seat for keys etc when you dont want to carry a bag and it could have more padding on the handlebar but as I said these are minor issues as all in all I love the buggy and so does my son, which is the main thing as if he is comfy and not moaning we are all happy!!
SO it might be worth looking around your local independants to see if they have one. We also found that ours (Babyland) was a really good shop. The sales assistants knew what they were talking about, were very happy to let us have a demo and even volunteered to come and help if we couldn't remember how to put it down when getting into the car. 
