I learned to drive in the family '73 Toyota Corolla and then in a '79 Datsun B210. The first car I bought with my own money was a well-used 1980 Mazda 626 coupe. It was supposed to be the "Japanese 3-series", so sort of a wanna-be Yuppy-mobile, which was perfect for me as a then-recent university graduate:
It wasn't particularly fast or light but it was pretty well balanced. It had the single cam 2l 4-cyl from the B2000 pick up, so it didn't exactly set the world on fire with its power or ability to rev. It was great on the highway and in the sweepers. R&T really liked it at the time:
It shared driveway space with a Honda...
It was eventually replaced by a 1985 Corolla GTS with the 4AGE. Now THAT was a car.