Nissan simple 'recommends' mineral oil. They also recommends 3750/7500 miles OCIs. There is NO implication made against synthetic oil. There is much ignorant hearsay on the web stating such as fact. Don't believe it.
What Pete mentions is the same with just about every PN coming from an automakers. Besides cost/specs/volume, the only other OEM variable I've dealt with is 'time'. That volume must delivered. Many contracts bounce simply because a supplier can't make the volume delivery in a reasonable time. And you wonder why Nissan has dozens of similar PN's for oil filters, and multiple suppliers for one part?
My issue with spec's is that 'cheating' to make up for low bid cost needs policing. OEMs don't do that too well.
If certain companies pack up and ship MFGing to China, you would hope that the quality is similar. And, since cost is less, you would think that quality, besides profit, could also be improved upon. One thing that I don't like from those cheaper imported parts is that it seems to take a generation or 2 to get the part right.
