Actually, combi is the German generic term rather than one unique to Mercedes.

In the same way a UK person would call their wagon car an "estate" (whatever make it is), and an American would call their estate car a "wagon", in Germany, everyone generally calls their estate/wagon a "combi". It wouldn't be at all unusual to hear four people say "we all drive a combi" despite them having a BMW, Audi, Mercedes or VW individually.

It was both actually, Mercedes always used the generic 'combi' as official model designation until they sent out a press-release with the first E-class estate that the designation was to be 'Estate' from thereon...

Errrr, don't want to be pedantic but I'm right. It can't be both generic and unique to Mercedes.

Besides, it's Kombi not Combi. Unless of course Mercedes were using "C"ombi in non-German countries, thinking that was a sensible translation (which of course it isn't).

You failed miserably

I appreciate the efforts to keep this thread alive until we get to the bottom of the question - what is the specific origin of the term "Touring" as it relates to BMW's designation (in much of Europe) of their station wagons/estates?

I know, it's sad. I really didn't want to be though :whistle: :whistle:

Would like to lift this thread. I haven't found the answer myself and I am curious to know the background.... Anyone?

...As per the latest edition of "The Star", the MB Club Of America's magazine (p. 40) in describing the history of the models produced at the MB facility in Bremen (the former Borgward Factory), and speaking specifically of five door variant of the S ( or W )123 : " The "T" was said to stand for Tourism or Transport". If BMW decided to borrow from MB. I can't say.
Al T.

As an aside (as this thread is full of them).

Americans call this type of car a Station Wagon. Station wagon in the automobile sense is first recorded 1929, from earlier use for a horse-drawn conveyance that took passengers to and from railroad stations (1894).

Whereas we (UK) call them Estate cars as they were used on country Estates, but it's derivation comes from Shooting Break:

The term shooting-brake was subsequently applied to custom-built luxury estate cars altered for use by hunters and other sportsmen. The New York Times said "the most famous shooting brakes had custom two-door bodies fitted to the chassis of pedigreed cars,"[9] citing Bentley, and Rolls-Royce as examples.

By the 1930s "the shooting-brake had adopted a more general purpose role, and the term 'estate car' was coined to describe a vehicle that could still carry a shooting party, yet at the same time be perfectly suitable for ferrying guests and their luggage to and from railway stations.[14]

The terms shooting-brake and estate or station wagon became synonymous.[4][5] The shooting-brake, which had been an "open carriage that carried shooting parties on large estates" became a general-use vehicle "for carrying master and servant" and the wagon became an estate car or estate, the current British term for station wagon.[6]

2006 editions of The Chambers Dictionary (TCD) define the term shooting-brake as an archaic term for estate (or station wagon).[7][8]

In France, a station wagon is marketed as a break, once having been called a break de chasse, literally translated: hunting break.

I think more than anything BMW (Touring), Audi (Avant) and Alfa Romeo (Sportwagen) are as much about marketing and image than anything else. Why call your car something generic, when you can call it something ownable?


And because of the class of car's original, utilitarian purpose, people tend to think of dull cars. When I hear the term Station Wagon, I think of cars like the Griswald's with the wooden panelling. When I hear Estate Car, I think of dowdy looking old Peugeot 405s and the like.

Wheras Avant sounds exotic and innovative (Avant Garde) and I assume is a shortened form of Avanti which means to move forwards (though why a German manufacturer would want French or Italian words to describe their cars is beyond me. Touring suggests that this is a car you'd use to travel long distances rather than just pootling about your estate or picking people up from the train station. And Sportwagon means, that yes, I need the practicality of an Estate Car, but not at the expense of my driving enjoyment.

Mercedes on the other hand seem to just choose the most generic terms for their vehicles. Even to the extent that they use the common nomenclature for a group of vehicles (or class) to describe their cars. You might think this is lazy, but is probably a smart move on their behlf as whenever you refer to that class of car generically, you'd say a class C car, or C-class car...

While I'm not exactly sure how Break became Brake, that was a very informative post, thank you very much. I am sold on the need for BMW's station wagon not to be put in the same bracket as the Griswold woodie, but I'm still interested in knowing the exact origin of the term Touring. Given BMW's previous work with Touring and given their ETC wins, there may be a connection - does anyone out there know the etymology of the term Touring, as applied by BMW?