Early tech adopters always face the same problem, being an early adopter can be a very expensive way to be first in the line. Take this 3D printed car, the LM3D Swim has been developed by Arizona based Local Motors and its set to go into pre-sales overdrive in 2016 via crowdfunding website Indiegogo. Sounds great doesn’t? That is until you look at the asking price… Local Motors are asking you to slap down $53,000 and yes that’s in good old paper dollars, maybe not Bitcoins. And no there are no cheap finance deals on offer this afterall is first generation mid-scale 3D printing technology which may take a decade or two to refine. As always early adopters take the hit so normal people don’t have to. The LM3D is so new it hasn’t even completed mandatory crash testing, so if you are a die-hard early adopter who has got a good credit rating and is able to aquire massive loans you suddenly realise you can not repay then perhaps the LM3D is for you. It should be noted Local Motors hasn’t even chosen a powertrain and has no means to actually start production because no partner has been chosen to manufacture the proposed 2,400 units per year target. One of the selling points to the LM3D Swim is that the body has interchangeable panels allowing for a variety of customisable looks. Interchangeable sounds good but we reckon early adopters will have little change to play with. So the bottom line is that life sucks and is way more expensive if you are an serial early adopter, just ask Apple fanboys and fangirls.