subaru star customer
Daily driver, weekly workhorse
BY CYNTHIA ROSE
An independent sheep farmer who hails from Kelowna, BC, is single-handedly redefining our definition of“ Subaru versatility.” Janice Casling is now on her fourth Subaru, her first was a 1994 Subaru Loyale Wagon with 4WD on demand— or“ the magic button” as she liked to call it.
Living a busy farmer’ s life, she needed a daily drive capable of keeping pace, so the versatility of the Loyale was put to the test from day one. Did it house a huge dog crate? Haul fence posts? Drive up Big White for a day of skiing? Provide a roomy ride for Border Collies, live sheep and itsy-bitsy lambs? The answer to these question is: yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. But this was just the start.
In 2003, during a rash of wildfires in the area, Janice evacuated her home with a moment’ s notice and lived for a week in her trusty Subaru, carting all her precious belongings away from the flames— including two dogs and a cat.
For close to 15 years, this unstoppable machine rolled around her beautiful, five-acre sheep farm either,“ hauling something behind it, inside of it or on top of it.” And when Janice says“ something,” we believe she means“ just about everything.” When it came time to upgrade from the Loyale, Janice moved straight into a preloved 2006 Subaru Forester.
“ When I first sat in my Forester,” she says,“ I felt like a queen”. She continued to rule her grassy kingdom from behind the wheel of a Subaru, moving easily from towing three tonnes of hay in a trailer to venturing around the countryside to train her Border Collies to herd sheep.
“ Why would I ever want a huge truck and waste all that gas?” she says.“ I can do everything I need to on the farm with my Subaru and then just as easily roll into town.” When I asked if others in the town were impressed with her Subaru, Janice laughed:“ Sure— because about 50 % of the drivers up here own Subarus, too!”
Her latest upgrade was to another Forester, a 2010 model, purchased in March of this year:“ I know it has a bigger interior because now I can stack eight 2x4’ s of lumber in there, no problem.”
The other feature Janice is taking full advantage of is the real-time fuel efficiency gage.“ It’ s amazing to see the difference in fuel efficiency between hauling a heavy trailer of hay and just going for a drive. I can adjust my speed and instantly see and control how much I spend on fuel.”
There’ s another reason why Janice is so taken with her latest Subaru and, in listening to her many colourful stories, it makes perfect sense to us:“ The other thing I love about my new Forester is that, somehow, it just feels like home.”
TOP PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREA BLAIR; MIDDLE AND BOTTOM PHOTOS COURTESY OF JANICE CASLING.
44 six star magazine