For one kid a minivan is probably overkill, and by the time it has friends that need carting around a $5k anything is probably doing the automotive equivalent of pushing up daisies. That said, if any more are planned for, just get the minivan... A coworker's wife refused to get a minivan before they "needed" one, but with #3 on the way they just found out their Sorrento won't do 3 seats across the back. We told him to just get the minivan...
Anyhow. When we debated having child #3 we thought about minivan but settled on a Camry (it'd wind up as my commuter if/when that happened). Found it worked just fine for us. The back doors swing wide (which can be a problem as you might guess!) but otherwise has been just fine as a mommy-mobile. With 2 kids it's ok, although we're glad they are out of seats and could each have a friend if they so wished--any more than that and yeah a minivan would have been better.
Camry or whatever its competition is.