More often than not, the European market receives sleek, stylish and sexy cars that are sometimes not available in America. It is, after all, Europe, where fashion, style, and design run high and are appreciate. But there are some exceptions, like the redesigned wing mirrors found on the Cadillac CTS.
CTS with European-spec mirror on the left vs. CTS with American-spec mirror on the right
While the CTS sold in North America features a sleek mirror, the Euro-market CTS features a larger mirror thanks to EU safety regulations. As such, a larger mirror and housing have been put in place. One reason Cadillac chose the sleeker mirrors originally, however, was to reduce wind noise and drag… not to mention their sexier appearance.
Would you like to see a larger mirror be put in place on the current Cadillac CTS? Or does the current design look better despite reduced visibility? Talk to us in the comment section below.
Comments
I wonder if they are power folding. Caddi just added power folding mirrors to the XTS. they are still absent from U.S. ATS and CTS.
They do. I drive a 2015 ATS Euro spec and they also have the bigger and uglier outside rear view mirrors and are power foldable.
I find these mirrors too big for the car and call them mickey mouse ears. Also the Camaro gets the ugly mirrors in Europe as well.
Today most vehicles have rear view camera, side blind alert and other safety feautures, we should be OK with smaller mirrors.
Third generations F-bodies and Caprices from the nineties had nicely shaped fixed outside rear view mirrors, but not in Europe.
These were black and manual foldable std mirrors for safety reasons (I always changed these to US specs as soon as possible).
Judging from the pictures, these are 2014 models as the logo still wears the crest.
I have a euro-spec 2014 CTS and the mirrors are indeed foldable (they turn up, much like a BMW mirror would). Despite their bigger dimensions though, I’ve had many situations where I didn’t see motorcycles until they were right next to me – the orange side blind alert is not very visible under bright sunlight nor does the color contrast with the side mirror-mounted blinker. In other words: the side blind spot is still big even with this type of mirror.
There are also other differences between the euro-spec and us-spec models: window glass wears the european certifications label, the V-6 models are not available as they have not been tested for compliance with emissions regulations here, and engine management seems to be different as well as the 4-cylinders produce slightly more horsepower in the euro-version (276 versus 272 for the 2014 model).