What determines a vehicle being a TOURING model.

[steve in reno]

We all know the 2002 Tii is the BMW touring marquee in our age group. It was a 4 cyl 4 speed.
Hardly what I would want to tour a nation in.
Now days the term Touring is used on many non BMW models that I also wouldn't want to tour our nation in .

Just a question from the uneducated.

 

[Stevehose]

I always thought it meant wagon or hatch back

 

[JMinPDX]

I always thought it meant wagon or hatch back

Ditto

 

[ablank135]

We all know the 2002 Tii is the BMW touring marquee in our age group. It was a 4 cyl 4 speed.
Hardly what I would want to tour a nation in.
Now days the term Touring is used on many non BMW models that I also wouldn't want to tour our nation in .

Just a question from the uneducated.

As the owner of a 330ix wagon touring, I can confirm that's BMW's go-to language. Audi opts for "avant," IIRC.

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

BMW uses Touring for what I would call a Station Wagon.

In the MGB world, the Touring model is the drop top version (GT=fixed roof)

In the teens and 20s, a Touring was an open sedan with both front and back seats and a fabric top and side curtains for inclement weather.

The cars in modern Touring Car Racing classes and events look like family sedans to me

A Gran Turismo is a luxury sports car (or wannabe luxury sports car)

 

[wkohler]

This is the ultimate touring car.

The British Touring Car Championship was originally called the British Saloon Car Championship when it began in the late 1950s. They changed the name in 1987 along with new sponsorship. Their up to 2 liters rules became the basis for the SuperTouring rules which were adopted by the FIA so I guess that name just stuck. DTM came around after that as that series was originally called Deutschen Produktionswagen Meisterschaft (German Production Car Championship).

What is interesting (as if that wasn’t?!) is that if you look up the definition, the first definition is as above with “an open automobile designed for five or more passengers,” but the second definition is “a modern 2 door coupe.” I’d think that’s more in line with what we’d call a GT car. Of course, in racing, GT cars are the sports cars.