Automatic tailage retrofit
 

I would like to ask if the Automatic Tailgate retrofit is possible ?

If so how much it costs?
How much of a "surgery" for the car is it?

Anybody did it?

I don't think it's possible...

Craig

I'm sure that it will be possible in the future. I'm also interested in getting Automatic Tailgate. We just have to find X5 with Auto. Tailgate already, and look closely for different part i.e. power unit, motor, or etc.

Not sure about whether or not it's possible, but make sure you actually want it before going to the trouble/expense. When I traded my wife's '06 530iT with auto tailgate option for an '08 X5 she requested that we *not* get that option on her X.

She said she got tired of waiting for the tailgate to self-lift which take about twice as long as it does for you to simply open it yourself......which is especially inconvenient when waiting for the tailgate to open in a downpour with a cart full of grocery bags.

It's one more thing to break and IMO completely unnecessary.

the tailgate closing is nice... for when I have a ton of groceries in my hands and can't exactly reach all the way up and pull the whole gate down... pushing a button is a ton easier. Not completely necessary but a very nice convenience.

Agreed....*closing* automatically can come in handy. I guess I don't generally need life to be quite *that* easy!:D

Just have to find some friends around here who has this auto. tailgate option so that I can see how fast it can operate. If it's slow then I will just forget about it. I love the auto boot lid button on E60 (auto pop up and manual closing)

My last 2-3 cars have had the auto tailgate closing feature. Like most "options/features" of new cars...of course it is not necessary at all!! It is however a great feature, and I don't think I would consider another future vehicle without it. My list of Must Haves are: Xenon lights, heated seats, power seats with driver memory, auto taligate/trunk, factory satellite radio and a light exterior colour. These are no compromise items for me...ever!! IMO, the auto tailgate is awesome. It does not take a long time to open, nor close. Also, if it is pouring down rain...you can open it via the remote before you get to the vehicle, the remote works quite a ways away.

I comes with the premium package in 2009...

Craig

When the E53 came out with the soft close trunk, I looked into retrofitting it into mine. I actually had all the parts list and wiring diagrams. In the end I decided against it. There were so many diffeences in the trunk, the motorized unit, and most importantly the wiring. The vehicle had a completely different LCM 'light control module' among other things which controlled many functions such all the memory settings, keyless entry, nav, etc. Everything would have to be re-programmed by the dealer and that's if one could figure out all the wiring differences! The pins on the wiring harness were different so it was almost impossible to do. I'm willing to bet the E70 is no different. I would do another complete NAV retrofit any day over trying to retrofit the automated trunk!