No question that Europeans are more into using SUVs to tow; seems everyone's got a small caravan. Here in the US, people tend to go for motorhomes or bigger trailers...and with those big trailers; either the Airtstream type or gooseneck, you really need a big pick-up; ideally a diesel dually. I can see why it's not such a big concern for BMW here.

I tow with my X5 all the time; everything from UHaul trailers, to my boat trailer, even occasionally a full sized enclosed car hauler. I would not want to make a habit of towing that enclosed car hauler; the X5 had no problem with the weight, but lack of extendable mirrors was an issue, and I really would need electric brakes. But overall, it is a really great tow vehicle.

IMO it isnt about how the different markets use products.


It is about the litigation risk to the manufacturer in the different markets.

My belief...

For what it's worth I like the execuhitch but there are other things funds have been allocated for (alphabet delete and tune), so I need to install a hitch on a budget. I'm planning to use the factory harness with module for camera hitch ball zoom feature but after that purchase and paying my local indy shop for install that's about the extent of funds I want to spend on a hitch. I'm also planning a 3m wrap sometime in the spring as the PO didn't take as nice of care of the paint as I would have liked, and I'm not interested in dropping 8K+ for a complete paint job.

Thanks for the feedback on my post guys, I appreciate the BMW community and knowledge available on the forums..

Cheers

I'm in Canada too (Oakville) I've searched around the web and cheapest for us would be this one.

https://www.4wheelparts.com/Towing/D...RPAaAvdk8P8HAQ

I found a cheaper deal and ordered and received in 2 days to Kitchener Ontario..

$300 taxes and shipping included.

BMW X5 Trailer Hitch - Hitch Warehouse

Now the factory wiring harness and module was painful.. $441 after tax, but I don't want to mess with the wiring and want the factory hitch zoom feature.

You can get that without actually adding the hitch, its just coding in your CIC

+1. I also bought it here. Installed myself with no issues. No wiring as I only use it for carrying bikes (4) and sometimes for a cargo carrier.

Crap.. really? And here I thought I needed the factory hitch module to be able to do this.. :dunno:

What is the advantage of the factory wiring versus aftermarket "non-splice" trailer harness?

https://www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit-...leid=201144313

There's more involved than the camera feature. Other aspects of the car's performance are altered when a trailer is hooked to the electronics. For example, the transmission shift points are altered, holding lower gears up hills when you have a trailer attached. Assuming you have dynamic ride, the car uses the system to act as a sway control, (whether that's any different than what it normally does, I don't know, and it works VERY well with a heavy trailer, but it's claimed as a feature.)

Most important, as fussy as the electronics system is on the X5, I would not be tempted to splice in an electronic load like a non-factory trailer harness, especially considering that BMW has gone through significant trouble engineering a solution for you. Aside from the chance of damaging existing light modules or other electronics, I would bet that would screw up the way your lighting works, and probably signal error messages for bad bulbs. No way is this worth the risk.

I agree 100% about this, however the harness I linked to above does not splice into anything but rather uses clamps on the necessary wires to read power through the insulation and replicate signals to trailer lights as I understand it and it's about 1/3 of the price.

https://www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit-...leid=201144313

Ah well, I'm sure the factory trailer harness will work great..

What exactly is the purpose of the trailer harness module with the factory wiring?

Thanks