The Consumer Guide Sprint(er) to The Bunny Hutch

by Ed Piotrowski

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The Consumer Guide Sprint(er) to The Bunny Hutch

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Consumer Guide loaded a 2009 Dodge Sprinter with hungry editorial staffers for a lunchtime field trip to The Bunny Hutch, a local eatery at an amusement center.

Second verse, similar to the first. Back in the spring of 2007, the cubicle-bound editorial staff of Consumer Guide Automotive took the passenger version of Dodge’s Sprinter van to Chicago’s Superdawg Drive-in.

So when Dodge provided us with a 2009 Sprinter, we just had to take another lunchtime field trip. With David Hall, our youngest associate editor, at the helm of our Sprinter 2500 passenger van, our hungry group ventured to a different location.

Our test Sprinter ably made the journey, editorial staff in tow, to Novelty Golf & Games, colloquially known as The Bunny Hutch. The “Hutch” is the restaurant portion of this facility, located at the intersection of Devon and Lincoln Avenues in Lincolnwood, IL, the hometown of Consumer Guide’s parent company, Publications International, Ltd.

Novelty Golf & Games has been a family-owned fixture in this northern Chicago suburb since 1949. The “Golf” portion refers to the 36-hole miniature golf course. “Games” is the video arcade that sports a collection of classic cabinets that adults find warmly nostalgic and kids find curiously amusing. There’s also the set of batting cages for folks to get in touch with their inner Alfonzo Soriano.

Nine editorial staffers were very comfortable with Sprinter's 12-passenger accommodations, even after eating!

The Bunny Hutch itself serves made-to-order drive-in fare, including hamburgers, hot dogs, malts, shakes, and other assorted ice-cream concoctions. There’s also traditional Chicago-style cuisine, including Polish sausage and Italian beef sandwiches. Diners can spend summers eating outside under the watchful eye of the restaurant's mascot, a brightly painted bunny that stands tall outside the restaurant.

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The 2009 Dodge Sprinter that shuffled us to and from our meal isn’t a whole lot different than the 2007 model that graced our office two years ago. It’s powered by the same Mercedes-Benz-sourced 154-horsepower 3.0-liter turbodiesel 6-cylinder engine and 5-speed automatic transmission. The 3.5-liter gasoline V6 engine introduced in 2007 has been discontinued.

With 280 pound-feet of torque on tap, the 5,200-plus-pound, 144-inch wheelbase van moves with better-than-adequate verve, even with a nearly full complement of passengers who themselves were full of grilled ground beef, boiled hot dogs, and/or deep-fried potatoes.

As we did for our trip to Superdawg, upon returning to our office, we still think we don’t go out to lunch together as a large group often enough. At the same time, the Sprinter adds an almost fun dimension to the journey. Sprinter is a vehicle that knows its role, and does its job with admirable gusto. It proved comfortable for the short drive to lunch, it works well as a shuttle bus for hotels and airport parking facilities, and it makes for a decent everyday drive, particularly for those with large families. At nearly $60,000, our test vehicle certainly was not cheap, but there are not many vehicles that can haul 12 people in relative comfort.