I think gravel is an excellent material for a rural driveway, and will definitely be less expensive to install and maintain.
I used this gravel stabilizing material with excellent results for a gravel parking pad I "built" for our house. It's very strong, and allowed me to reduce by at least 60% the amount of gravel I needed to buy in order to hold the weight of our cars:
http://celltekdirect.com/lsg.htmlYou might not need it for a long driveway, and if you don't care too much about the gravel sinking and shifting over time. But for anyone considering a gravel parking area or driveway, I highly recommend looking into it. It is terrific for holding the gravel in place, and will cut by 50-60% or more the amount of gravel you need to put down. It also eliminates the need for any kind of edging material since the gravel is already held in place in each individual cell (though you might still want an edge for decorative purposes, but it's not needed for stability).
And, you can just put it right on top of grass/dirt/whatever, and pour the gravel right into it -- no other site preparation needed (other than of course leveling a really misshapen area). I just spread out the honeycomb cells right over the grass that used to be where my parking spot now is, and instead of needing at least 14" deep gravel, I only needed 6-7" -- enough to fill the cells plus another inch or two. 2+ years later, it is still holding with no maintenance needed, no gravel shifting around, no depressed areas, and no grass or weeds growing through the gravel. Walking on it is more like concrete -- your feet don't sink into the gravel at all. I ordered the Celltek stuff from the same place I purchased the gravel itself, and you just cut it into whatever dimensions you need.
Also, you should not use smooth, round gravel or pea gravel for any kind of driving/parking application. Those stones will slip and shift against one another too much, you'll have a squishy driveway or parking area with lots of depressions and holes. Instead, use jagged/rough cut and larger gravel, like 3/4". The pieces of gravel should have lots of straight edges, square and rectangular/jagged shaped instead of round. They will tend to lock together and hold tight in place even under the heavy weight of cars or trucks.