tourer

Tourer is a term in English used to describe someone or something associated with travel or touring. It appears in several contexts, including vehicles, cycling, and performing tours.

In automotive history, a tourer (also called a touring car) was a class of open-bodied passenger car popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These cars typically carried four or more people on front and rear bench seats and emphasized passenger space and accessibility over weather protection. Most tourers had no fixed roof or a lightweight fabric top, with side curtains rather than full doors. As closed-bodied designs became standard, the formal use of tourer for new cars declined, though the term remains common in reference to vintage or restored models.

In modern usage, tourer can refer to a cycle-tourer—someone who undertakes long-distance cycling trips—or more generally to a person on a tour, such as a musician or sports team on an extended engagement. Some contemporary marketing uses of tourer describe practical, long-distance-oriented vehicles comparable to station wagons or family-oriented hatchbacks, though such usage is not standardized and varies by market.