Most new to RC get electric first since most starter kits offer RTR boxes cheaper as elctric cars/trucks. Then, once they been it for awhile, they move on to Nitro. Dont get me wrong, electric can be more expensive than any Nitro out there, it just depends on how seriously you get into it and how much you are willing to spend.

In general, nitro costs more, but DONT ever buy the quart fuels. Always buy fuel by the gallon because if you do the calculations, you pay twice as much for the quart fuel. (One quart costs half as much as a gallon of the equivalent fuel, but a quat is only a quarter of what a whole gallon is).

Aside from have to buy fuel (which can cost $35 per gallon!), nitro is harder to work on (general maintenace, learning to tune, plug choices and exhuast choices, shimming the head, etc.), but the eventual rebuild can be a challenge to many when the time comes.

I persobnally never went electric; I started off with nitro and am still quite fanatical about nitro. I personally love the constant tinkering and actually enjoy taking apart the engines and rebuilding them. Nitro is also unique to electric in the healty noise they make and the smell of the exhaust they emit. To me, electric will not match that (unless they make a motor that can turn 100000RPM for insane speeds!).