As an experiment in my Nissan frontier, I used cheap conventional oil and a mobil 1 filter.
I then used Mobil 1 oil and a cheap filter.
The Mobil 1 filter lasted longer before getting dirty vs the cheap filter.
I tried a purolator oil filter on the last change and the oil was dirty just as fast as the cheap one, go figure.
One car I had was a mitubishi mirage. Factory oil was synthetic you change at 7500 miles. The oil filter was smaller than ours. The oil remained clean until about 6800 miles then it went seriously dark after that. So, it seems, when then oil filter capacity is reached, it is going to just bypass and you are running dirty from that point on.
Now that I am back in the Toyota crowd, I want to see what you guys like. I see that these oil filters are so small as well. My old way of thinking was to use a cheap filter and change it more often. Some of my mechanic friends like to use NAPA / WIX overall for different applications.
Fan Favorites :
Genuine Toyota 90915-YZZF1 Oil Filter - $8 each amazon (or 5 for ~$30)