The XT6 I just bought is the first “luxury” vehicle i’ve ever owned.
In the owners manual it says that 93 unleaded gasoline is recommended but that it can run with regular 87 unleaded. I have the 2.0L turbo engine.
Will I be just fine if I fill it up with regular unleaded or should I stick to premium? Can’t really get a straight answer anywhere.
Anyone have any experience with this?
It’s recommended not required.
So you should be good
I always put regular gas in my old car where it also said premium recommended, i drove that car for 211k miles without an issue
No personal experience, but the government has fuel economy figures for the 2.0T engine w/ both premium and regular, so I imagine regular is fine. City fuel economy is slight better w/ premium.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/2021_Cadillac_XT6.shtml
All engines in modern cars have anti knock sensors and technology that will reduce the possibility of real problems. You may experience a reduction in performance though.
The “recommended” fuel will give you all the rated power, but it will run just fine on required. What it means that it has ability to retard the timing to accommodate the knocking that may start from regular gas. So if you don’t care about losing some of the performance from the engine, you don’t need premium.
Which may be trivial if the numbers on other small turbo 4-cylinders are any guide. On the Mazda CX-9 IIRC the torque was exactly the same on regular vs 93, and for HP the difference was only noticeable after 5,000 RPM.
It may not be significant. My 1.5 (6?) Liter Turbo Malibu didn’t require premium but the 2.0 liter did. I doubt that it’s going to make a huge difference on these engines.
It could be insignificant as far as power but significant enough if the engine was tuned to a point where there is no way to control timing to reduce knocking.
I won’t be pulling anything with it or racing down the freeway. As long as it doesn’t damage the vehicle it doesn’t matter to me.
Is it a Lease? Then who cares! haha.
If you own it, AND you like to lead foot it, I would put in Premium
No ,it’s a purchase. Better terms for me this way.
If it’s a purchase I might consider it simply because I don’t have as much faith in these turbocharged engines long term.
I have the predecessor 2.0 LTG in my TourX (as opposed to the LSY in the XT6). Let’s just say that the next time I put premium in it will be first time ever.
FYI you will likely also experience a small decline in fuel economy too. Not sure it’s enough to offset the minor savings from going regular however.
Personally I’d just go premium. Why spend $800+ a month on a luxury SUV and go with reduced performance and fuel economy all for a $8/mo net savings?
I’m at $610 a month, not $800 
The difference between premium and regular is $0.60. That’s exactly a 20% difference in price. Even if my MPG drops by 2, that’s only a 10% drop in mileage. That’s still 10% in fuel savings.
Since I drive about 2,000-2,500 miles per month that easily adds up to quite a bit more than $8.
I was just taking a guess based on a generically equipped model, typical term length and zero down with an average amount of miles driven per month. Most gas stations in NJ & CA are 20c-40c premium for… premium.
Personally I would still go premium under those circumstances. But sounds like you’re already set on what you want to do. As long as you’re happy, go for it.
If I understand your “deal” thread post.
You financed, not leased.
Also, you rolled $5356 (?) into the XT6 transaction
I had about $2,500 equity in my trade. So I used a GM supplier discount and then got them to inflate the trade-in value instead of trying to negotiate down on the vehicle purchase price.