A tiny little car made in Yugoslavia before the war in that area. It was small, and cheap - a base model was only $4,000, and available in America. Had a lot of jokes made about it, including by the people who had one.
My dad had a Yugo. Because the van he had was having problems, and he refused to break the promise he had made to my sister and I that he'd take us to Cedar Point that summer. So he bought one, since it was the cheapest car on the market.
I eventually drove it for a while in high school. Sure, it was embarrassing, but it was either that or nothing, and though nothing was almost preferable some days, it was a car.
If you looked at it as a disposable car, then maybe wasn't such a bad vehicle. The gas mileage was incredible. And we fit like nine people in it once, and in went. Not too fast, but it went. The thing would do about 85, I know, I floored it. Uphill wasn't as good.
The interior parts were rather cheap, however. The inside door handle had a tendency to break, being plastic and quite thin.
A woman was once blown off the Mackinac Bridge while in a Yugo, due to gale-force winds. The story has been twisted around and made into various urban legends about other bridges and stuff...