What is the best synthetic oil?

TROOPER

OMG, there's like a million oil threads.. why isn't there a sticky..!!

And to be honest there does not seem to be a single thread that can agree on the choice of ester oil vs synthetic oil.

My car is due it's first oil change, but with SO many debates on the pros and cons, and ester vs synthetic I have no idea what to do.

Personally I've been a big fan of Royal Purple, but I'm not sure if the recommended is Ester.

Now I now it's "recommended", but that doesn't mean it's "required".
And I don't want to just fall into a Nissan sales gimmick, or dealership bullsh*t

And people saying they have had no issues with synthetic after 10 or 15k miles, is not really evidence if you know what I mean.
Tell me you've run your car for 100k+ miles on synthetic, and I'll be a believer

It's confusing to hear I have to use ester to break-in the engine, then switch to synthetic.
Or once I switch to synthetic, I can't go back to ester oil.

So what's the true story here guys, I'm looking for genuine advice, or hard facts OK.

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Darren
"Guv Motors Passion Wagon"

WarmAndSCSI

Ester oil is synthetic oil, labeled as Group V oil. Nissan's Ester Oil just contains an ester-based additive, not necessarily any Group V polyol esters (POE) or diesters, and definitely not based on Group V oil according to their patent request on the oil.

As far as break-in is concerned, you can actually perform a break-in on a modern OEM engine on full synthetic oil. Even Mobil 1 confirms this, noting that many high-end engines come with Mobil 1 as factory fill oil. It doesn't hurt to stay on conventional for a couple hundred or thousand miles, mainly for the same reasons you break in a rebuilt or race engine on conventional, but it's not necessary. I would be wary of any Group V-based oils early on - stick to Group III and IV synthetics as these are confirmed to work as factory-fill oils.

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