Which is our car?
Can anyone shed a light on the difference between samochód, auto, and maszyna? I get the impression that samochód is formal, auto is a common way of saying it, and maszyna is a general term for any machine (such as a car). Is this correct?
Samochód is more formal than auto. The word samochód occurs about 41 times more frequently than the word auto on official documents, although both occur. Both mean the same thing – 
. So your intuition is right.
Maszyna means the same as machine – a thing that transfers a physical quantity into another or adjusts the quantity’s value.