A gesture access system includes at least one wireless transceiver to be mounted to a motor vehicle having a powered door, a motor responsive to motor control signals to open the power door and a processor to process signals from the wireless transceiver to determine whether an object is exhibiting a predefined gesture and, if so, to control an unlocking actuator to unlock the powered door, to then continually monitor and process signals from the wireless transceiver to determine object parameters including a speed of movement of the object away from, and a distance of the object relative to, the powered door, determine a door opening speed based on the object parameters, and control the motor control signals to open the powered door at the determined door opening speed.