The Trabant cars. (source: TASR)
North Americans aren't made for Slovak cars before 2002. Just look at them - the half-pint Fiats, the matchbox Trabants. Even if you're lucky enough to get the front seat, you still find your knees buckling the glove box, your back deeply indented with seat springs.
The tiny car - auto, or rather autíčko - you're wedged in is known in these parts as a bugatka or a prdítko ('little farter'). That doesn't have to mean it's a lemon (haraburda) or a wreck (kraksňa, rachotina), but it's unlikely to be a hotrod (tátoš, meaning 'wild horse', or fáro, from the German fahren, to drive).
Beware of insulting someone's voz, however ('to je môj voz' is equivalent 'these are my wheels', or 'this is my ride', so says the dictionary). Even if it's not an Audina (Audi), Méďo (Mercedes) or Bé-Em-Wé (BMW), even if it's just a plain Škodovka (Škoda) banger, it's someone's pride and joy (pýcha a potešením).
