I've always loved the MR2. The mid engine runabout for the common man. The story for me definitely started when I got my drivers license. I would frequent a local MR2 forum in the Netherlands for quite a few years as an enthusiast and potential buyer. It never ended up happening unfortunately. Via my YouTube channel I would find myself in an AW11 and in 2018 and I met my hero in the form of a 3SGTE swapped SW20 in 2019. Meeting your heroes can always backfire, but it didn't at all. It was everything I thought it would be.

Fast forward to 2021. I got no clue how it all came together. I think Jose, who owns the black MKIV Supra I reviewed a while back, knew Lance who has this MR2. A few messages later and we're shooting a review. This statement probably spoils the review but; It should have had a V6 from factory. MAJOR NSX vibes.

What do you guys think of the MR2? And which one is your favorite? For me it's definitely the SW20. I like the AW11 as well because it just oozes 80's. Never really liked the 3rd generation for some reason. Never driven one and I would love to. But I just can't get super exited by the way they look compared to the SW20!

What they wrote was the truth... From a certain point of view

Got to love the Obi Wan clause...

Since most of the OPPOnauts are probably on PC (I like to think so anyway) I bet you can relate. The current GPU situation is insane. I had my heart set on the 6800xt but after striking out multiple times I downgraded to the one that seemed in stock almost every drop, the vanilla 6800. Then 2 weeks in a row I would see people in the chat say they got a card while the buy button did not show up for me. The solution was to join the likes of scalpers and utilize a script which was touted on the stream for a few weeks. First time I tried and boom, 6800 in the pocket. Not what I wanted, but with the crazy stuff that has been going on I am more than happy.

I am planning on building a new rig but my main plan was always to see how my vintage 2014 rig would take to the upgrade. I decided to shoot an unboxing and install video, and ran a simple cyberpunk bench I did last time with my R9 390 with the following results;

Any other OPPO's score a card or are you still looking? And talk about my future rig, I am likely getting an 5800x, 32 gigs of ram on a AsRock motherboard. For the case I am thinking the Lian Li Lancool II. I am simply going to grab the SSD's in my current PC and swapping them to the new PC which should work just fine. Still going to be stuck with my 1080p panel for a little while longer after that, it's all a budget thing. Money no object and I would have sprung for a 6900xt and 5950x no doubt.

I always love the affordable builds. They, in my book, embody the modern hot rod culture of doing as much as you can with the tools you got. eBay Turbo Civics seem to be the cornerstone. 320whp out of a boosted B20b stuffed in a civic which with driver and passenger doesn't even touch 3000#'s.

It was an extremely good day, I can tell you that! It also handily bused my VR6 Passat GT so that horsepower figure? No joke...

Car reviews are never a sure thing, especially during these times for me. Got a couple of cars I might be able to review in the future, but that is a ways away and also dependent on this thing finally resolving.
But I still had a couple already in the tank, and I finally got around to edit this one.

The only other corvettes I had ever driven was a 1973 with a 396 (non original, but still ticked all the old school boxes save for the manual) and a 1985 C4 with the doug nash (which wasn't operable during the review). Since I never had a go in a C5 I made a big leap in technology. And boy, I can honestly tell I wouldn't be against buying one.

Now here's to hoping I can review a C5, C7 and a C8 sometime. One thing does strike me as odd. I have reviewed a decent amount of cars, but vettes somehow seem to never come on offer. Is it the demographic? This one was owned by someone who let me review his STi two and a half years before he got this one. He doesn't fit that demographic so it would make sense.

What are your thoughts on the C6 Grand Sport?

Since this is my first post I have to continue the obligatory sharing of the YouTube car content I have been annoying you with it since I joined OPPO and made my first post back in august 6th 2013. That was back when I started carvlogging. Trip down memory lane. All those carvlog videos are private now. In 2014 I kinda moved on to car shows and later car reviews so the car vlogs just did not fit the bill anymore. Still a small YouTuber and will probably stay that way till I quit doing it. It's fun to be part of the community though, and that is the main thing that keeps me going. Currently at 9557 subscribers and I have around 40-50K views a month (goes beyond that, dips below that too, you know, youtube things).

Last video I did was on one of my favorite car shows. It was cancelled due to COVID, but recently had it's first show since I believe March 2020. It was great to be back out there and see cars I missed for a while. Funny thing was that there were a slew of hyper cars there. Didn't even see them because of the crowd around them. I only knew when they made their exit and I filmed them leaving the show (Pagani Huayra, McLaren Senna, LaFerrari and a Chiron Sport). It is rare I film them static and even if I wanted to get some static footage people are all around them. Can't get a clear shot without shadows and I can't stand shadows dancing on the bodywork of a car. That's why I always end up with more obscure stuff.

My favorite car of show was the Diablo SV though. Can't go wrong with a 90's supercar. I still own a Burago model of a purple diablo. That traveled from a tax free store between the borders of Austria and Slovenia all the way back home to the Netherlands and then in a shoebox to where I am typing this now in Texas. It's probably nearly 25 years old now. Crazy stuff. I finally ended up displaying it again when I redid my YouTube / Mancave and put it next to models of the DeLorean and Delorean time machine.

Man, this is turning into a post full of random. And I don't even know if any of the links will work until I hit publish. We'll find out! Wonder if I can edit if it does pull everything up or does something weird. EDIT: IT WORKS! Anyway, I am happy OPPO will live on. Thanks everyone behind the scenes of this awesome endeavor!

Solution: A classic boat with a big block. Exempt and super polluting. Liberal nutjobs.

This was my first time seeing a BC Roadster, but getting slider shots of it was going to be an impossibility. Cars and Cantina is definitely at capacity when it comes down to cars and spectators. It's getting harder and harder to film. A shame really, because there was an original 60's GT40 there I wanted to include desperately. Like the Pagani shots I could squeeze in as it rolled through the show lot I was lucky I got to film the GT40 as it entered the highway. Sounded great just idling by, I can't imagine what it would have sounded like at wide open throttle! Anyway, I waited for 10 minutes to see if I could have a clear opening, and then tried later only to discover someone had left their tripod right in the way. I then gave up and moved on. Timeless, and priceless. It actually overheated as it waited to get into the show. Someone posted a video. I was happy I could reply that it confirmed left under it's own power. Built to run, not to idle in a traffic jam. No doubt the GT40 would have been my favorite had I been able to get some slider shots in.

But since my choices for best of show are limited to the ones I did see and film I was actually completely surprised where my brain landed. I could have picked the BC Roadster (The kids did, hence it being the thumbnail car to the video) or even that great looking Gallardo (A STICK) I filmed as I left the show. Nope. It was the Eclipse. It was so well preserved, never have I seen one so clean. My American muscle mind is screaming right now. Why not the GT500? The NOVA?! Nope, that was a no-go. It had to be the Japanese car. It Eclipsed the competition for just being what it is. A stock car which no doubt was close at one (or multiple) points to becoming someones financial mistake. A true unicorn.

Cars and Coffee: Dallas was cancelled in 2018 by the dealership it was held at. Reason? Unofficially because people couldn't behave. I remember the show at it's high. But with the advent of social media and people filming (guilty as charged I suppose) a part of the attendees of the show was only interested in doing everything that kills a show. From revbattles (the show got complaints) to drifting around corners. There were also plenty crashes, one of which I caught on film as well quite a few years back (yes, it was a Mustang).

But everyone was surprised when it came back in December of 2019, for a special edition, benefiting a charity. I was expecting that this year would be cancelled but was surprised to see a show date. I had my exit all to myself. Attendance was down from 2019 which isn't surprising. It was cold and the show is no longer the place to be anymore. But it made it more manageable to shoot. Save for the supercar alley. That was packed as per usual so no supercar glamour shots. Some pretty cool classics though! The Grand Prix was definitely one of my favorites at that show. You just don't see them.

In the YouTube description there is a full legend, but the show starts at 5:40, before that it's just my typical vlog stuff, which is not why you are here.

I am truly thankful for Car shows. They are one of the things that has been pretty consistent this year. The DFW community has been awesome, the internet community (save for a few trolls) have been amazing and we're rolling towards 10,000 subscribers to boot. Been a personal goal that, for years. I can't remember the first time I talked about it. But it was at a Cars and Coffee event.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and I am looking forward to us all having a CARTASTIC 2021!

Super muggy on film day, I was sweating my behind off filming this one. But it was worth it, the biggest Cars and Coffee Southlake yet. I think the lot was 100% utilized, if it wasn't it had to be close. Too many cars to see and film. The downside to this one is that I wanted to upload it Thursday but once I uploaded YouTube ended up having an issue with checks. And if a video isn't checked out it effectively reduces the reach of the content. Not that I have much reach to begin with when it comes down to Car Show videos but I am not about to lose even more. Pushed myself to finish it only to have issues with YouTube. FML. But they fixed it and we're golden again.

(scroll to 4:40 for the sound of V12 excellence)

Kids picked the 720s as the cover car, so again not picking my #1 car. Perhaps I should just cut out all supercars from the lineup and steer them in the right direction! Or is that not allowed?

@thatguywiththe_i30n that is part of the reason why I might falter and go Intel again even though I would lose on the GPU / CPU pairing boost. Intel chips never let me down. And you are right, I am super happy I got a GPU. So many others are still desperately trying. COVID can't be over soon enough, that is the whole reason everything got hosed up. Supply and finance wise the world has just been turned upside down.

So I decided to go to this meet again. Usually I pass but last month I ended up with a review from going and I did enjoy seeing a bunch of cars that I don't see at the other meets. I also cleaned up the Mustang the night before. It has some issues so I don't want to drive it too much until I can get it fixed. But I decided it was worth it to take the car since it hasn't been to a show in over a year.

So driving up to the show doing my usual intro in the car for a change and I come across an FD-RX7. Pretty much fanboy from the moment I saw it and then it ended up throwing a little flame as it accelerated past me. Too bad the wide angle reduced it to a few pixels (OK, a little better, but still... very small on screen).

During the exit shots I was treated to some more flames in the form of a 370z and another RX7, an FC this time. All and all I had a great time once again. Really enjoyed seeing that MX6, that is a car I have always liked a lot. Nearly missed it too. I glanced over and was like "Is that an MX6?" and then when I got closer I saw it had the V6... I really hope the owner contacts me for a review because boy... I would praise it to high heaven!

Also... It was my daughter's turn to pick the thumbnail and she went with the Classic! There is hope yet!

@thatguywiththe_i30n making deals! I am just happy my old rig is still owning. I'd be pretty screwed if it decides to die now. I hope 2022 gets better so I can build my system properly. Really don't want to cut corners. Originally I wanted a 5800x but now I can't settle for anything else but a 5900x since the 5800x runs way too hot apparently. Or I might just stay with intel since their new CPU's are coming out. So impressed with the 4790K. It still comes up in recommended specs now. That's just crazy to me for a chip nearing a decade old.

@alfalfa I had to have it! I never played primal because it didn't interest me and couldn't get through blood dragon but all the others have been very solid for me. Love starting as a regular joe and ending up the MAN! Another game I loved in that regard was Wolfenstein: The New Order. The storyline in that one is great. Yes, no far cry open world but still. Great game. Any game with a base of operations and interesting characters is good with me.

@facw either that or pick up a 6800 / 6800 XT when those aren't in stock... I was actually close to buying a 5700xt before and decided to wait. Shot myself in the foot bigtime. Sure, the 6800 I have now beats it hands down if it was paired with some current hardware instead of the 7 year old stuff I am dealing with. The 5700xt is a solid 1440p card while the 6800 slays 1440p and is a legitimate entry level 4K piece of kit.

I actually wished I could try 1440p and 4K on my current setup, but I don't own monitors that go beyond 1080p and I am not about to buy one just to make a video since my current monitors still work fine. I don't upgrade until something breaks when it comes down to peripherals... I fully expect to build my new rig and still run dual 1080p monitors for a fair bit...

There was some work and a decent amount of luck involved in me scoring a 6800. I wanted a 6800xt but in this climate beggars can't be choosers. I was full tilt on getting a new PC by the end of the year, but the bottom fell out of YouTube to the point I might have to eat the video-card purchase completely. Yes, all my work is on my PC. Even when I play video-games it finds a way to turn into work in the form of my gaming channel.

I have been a big fan of the Far Cry franchise. But as my PC ages I increasingly worry about being able to run games at OK quality settings. Even though the i7 4790k still gets mentioned in recommended specs to this day my PC is still 7 years old with a graphics card many generations newer. How does it run Far Cry 6? See below...

How many OPPO's out there on the Far Cry 6 bandwagon? And how many of you guys are running "potato" hardware that is 100% bottlenecking your GPU? (Or heaven forbid you are still looking for one, I wish you all the luck because my journey was frustrating at times...)

@pip-bip LOL, no, I don't want to bring up the segment at all TBH. Less chance of a car show getting hosed!

DANG... That is NUTS. I preloaded FarCry 6 with the high rez textures in probably under half an hour. But that was also half the size. I got no clue why games have to be so insanely huge.

What they wrote was the truth... From a certain point of view

Got to love the Obi Wan clause...

There was another high profile show going on and the threat of rain made it a little less crowded this time around. There were still supercars there and I got to shoot an uninterrupted side shot of the Ford GT which made it a win. Also a very clean new 911 Turbo S. I really like the lettering on the tails they are doing on the current models.

Naturally none of those cars made it as my best of show. That went to a (what I believe to be a 1972) 'Cuda. You got a car like that with a pistol grip shifter and I get weak in the knees. Such an awesome car. Yes, I like the earlier models a little better, but still very cool. The challengers of the same vintage got hit by the ugly stick, but the 'Cuda doesn't suffer too much in the later years IMHO.

Naturally there had to be someone who took it a bit too far, but no where near Cars and Coffee Southlake levels. Still enough to end up in my "Old Men Ruin Everything" segment. Probably not the most popular segment for some because it seems I complain a lot but I feel it needs to be said.