I could not agree more, its complete nonsense to use the plane mirror. The "good for the economy" theory is sounding more plausible to me.

Currently, I have a plane mirror with a stick on convex mirror blocking 25% of the area. . The stock mirror is so small that when you put the stick on mirror on it, much of it is blocked out by the trim of the stick on mirror.

The only soution I can think of is to have a mirror custom made, apply adhesive to the back and smoosh it on top of the stock plane mirror. That should look nice. I heard that you have to use the plane mirror in the US though, any other kind is illegal. More nonsense.

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1996 E320
2000 C230 Kompressor
1988 190e 2.3 - 225K miles, owned for 7 years. I cannot say enough good things about this car. Very well built, even at 225 it ran like new.