If you want a 4x4 I'd look for a little 4 cylinder toyota pickup. If you must choose between these two then the H3 for sure. Don't worry about gas, worry about repair costs on the Range Rover (which will be high and which will occur VERY often).

 

I would go with the Rover. It costs more to buy and to own. If you're 17 and those are your choices, obviously money is no object.

 

I hate imports so it's a no brainer for me in choosing the H3.

 

2008 Civic - about a 13 gallon tank. H3 - 23 gallon. Your fill ups will be a heck of a lot more in the H3, whatever the price for a gallon is. Also, at 13 gallons you should be getting almost 400 gallons on a complete tank. H3 - 330 miles. (Both these numbers are approximate, don't flame me for math).

Rover will be a lot of money to repair and will simply need more repairs.

Doc's got the best suggestion of all. Get an affordable, reliable, cheap to own car and put the money in something that will help you later. Of course at 17 no one (including me when I was that age) thinks of those things.

I went from a Civic to an H3 and trust me - the cost of ownership is far above the cost of ownership of a Civic, from gas to oil changes to tires to wear and tear. The only advantage I had with the h3, cost-wise, is a reduction in my insurance premium.

 

The Camry is more fuel efficient, but it's even uglier than the Land Rover

 

A buddy of mine has an 03 range rover as well and it is a piece of ****e. I swear he drive it three months without something going wrong with it. He says he gets 10 mpg around town and 14 on the highway. It uses premium gas as well. A domestic car is just plain cheaper to drive as far a maintanance goes.

 

I don't know if this is still relevant to this thread, but has anybody seen the prices on new H3's lately? I bought one last month with 'Employee pricing for everybody' (annoying, actually, since I am eligible for employee pricing all the time ). With $6,000 cash back, I got a brand spankin' new base '08 H3 for just under $21,900,with no haggling (that's the nature of the employee price). Tax, title, license, and a set of side steps brought this up to $25,002 and some change out the door. Since the Hummer was never marketed as an economy car, the 'base' model is not lacking for creature comforts, IMO. The only thing that I might have upgraded is leather, but it was an '08, so I bought what they had. I shopped around and found that a low mileage used '06 was about the same price (sad for anybody trying to sell one). If you're looking for a 'small' 4WD SUV, why would you even consider anything else?

WRT mileage, my first fillup came out to 18.5MPG in mixed (about 50/50) suburban/rural driving. That didn't seem right, so I anxiously awaited my second fillup. A bit heavier on the suburban driving this time. It was 17.5. Needless to say, I'm pleased!

 

gas in South Dakota today was $2.49 per gallon

 

Now, this is only my opinion, but if you are worried about the cost of gas, neither option is a good one for you. Perhaps you should change your thinking just a bit and realize that (4) round wheels beats (2)meat heels every time! Investing less on the car will allow for more fuel until you finish college or attain a job sufficient for supporting a larger car payment and fuel at the same time. Unless of course you have a "Silver spoon" in your mouth which is pretty unlikely because you asked the question in the first place. I'd bet all (well most) have great memories of that first car (usually a piece of trash by others standards) we patched together to get down the road. In retrospect, I'd have it back tomorrow if I could find it