We're still trying to decide between a minivan and a midsize SUV
(something like a Honda Pilot). One of the main differences that I think
would effect us is the sliding doors of a minivan, or regular doors in
an SUV - the automatic opening is great, but not fundamental, my bigger
concern is ease of holding a door open and juggling kids in a
potentially tight car park, which is something I really don't have to
deal with right now, I haven't looked at the exact measurements but our
current car is very narrow and I think the doors are shorter than in an
SUV so they don't open out as far, but even so, I do find I have to hold
the door open reasonably often, I really wish they had a locking
position midway sometimes! There are a couple of places we go with tight
spaces and on a slope, add in a wind and suddenly you're doing
everything one handed to avoid damaging the next car! That is totally
doable with the kids the age mine are, but if memory serves correctly,
rather more frustrating with a baby!

Originally I was just thinking minivan, but we just had lots of bad
weather and were renting a minivan and it wasn't good! We've also had
lots of people raving at us about certain SUVs, including that they are
a lot more comfortable than minivans - to be honest, I'm not convinced
on that one, we've hired both in the past couple of years and they have
all been pretty good both to drive and to ride in!

Cheers
Anne