I have a 2006 AWD Toyota Sienna. We live off a long dirt road and we are very happy with it. We do snow tires with studs in the winter and the family has started calling it "the tank" because it drives really well. The only complaint is it does hydroplane much easier than our SUV so that is something to watch out for in heavy rain or slushy snow. The clearance is 2 inches more than the current generation 7" vs 5" I believe and that is another reason why we got this model. We have the bottom undercoated every other year to keep rust away. As far as mud season I have never gotten stuck (knock on wood) and our road gets real bad. Again it doesn't handle quite as well as the SUV. The rural mail man offers to buy the van every time he sees us, so that says something. He also drives a sienna.