No, not really. The S-Bahn uses darker colors and more red.

In Karlsruhe, the trams are actually technically double-ended. They can be fully operated from the rear and driven at full speed. But since there is no rear-view mirror there, you cannot carry passengers, and only one side has doors. But every morning, a train reverses from Ettlingen to Marxzell to pick up a load of students right on time for school. The next loop is all the way up the mountain at Bad Herrenalb, and we don't have time for that…

Yeah, that surprised me too, I had assumed that all trams like this have a driver's seat on both ends. (Pretty much the only thing I see here in the U.S. though is the Siemens S70, so I don't see many different models.)

Is the advantage simply cost and more passenger seating?

They're unfortunately not accessible, and not fire-safe enough to run in the underground tram tunnel, and so have largely been restricted to S31 and S32, or during construction, as is occurring here.

If you mean the metal pole that's holding the catenary, that's way closer than it looks.