Hiya TNTransplant! Great car and engine. I have a QX4 with the VQ35 engine. I used Quaker State 10W-30 oil and OEM filters at 3,750 mile OCIs for the first 11,000 miles. After that I switched to Mobil 1 5W-30 and the M1-108 filter at 7,500 mile OCIs for the next 27,000 miles. Right now I'm in my first OCI with Shell Rotella T 5W-40.
Then I found this website.
Now my garage is filled with all the GC I could find and I have a bunch of sample containers from Butler Cat waiting to carry off my used oil for analysis. As I read from other VQ owners, the VQ seems to like a thicker 30-weight oil so GC (or Mobil 1 0W-40) might be ideal. Lots of folks have been getting good results from Mobil 1 5W-30, too, so I don't feel bad about the 27,000 miles during which I used it.
Fortunately I've never had to add oil, regardless of the OCI, the oil, or my driving conditions. (My '95 Maxima with the VQ30 also lived on Mobil 1 5W-30 and didn't drink a drop in the 70,000 miles I put on it.) I guess Nissan engines have been lucky for me.
BTW, if you want to learn what all those numbers mean in a UOA, check out /www.blackstone-labs.com/gasoline_diesel_report_expl.html>.