Why do mini's have a reputation for not lasting long?
 

Hey guys, so I just bought an '03 mini cooper S, 114k miles, old lady owned for 1300 bucks. Heres my question:

Every source of info I find says the engines in these cars go bad around 100k miles??? This seems rediculous to me having owned many cars with well over 200k miles and one with nearly 300k miles and still running flawlessly. Hell even alot of motorcycles will easily go 100k miles (alot for a motorcycle) Even in the extremes of mileage the engine typically never goes bad in a modern car, everything else does, 90% of cars that are scrapped still run, they rot out, trannies go bad, or become more expensive than they are worth but the engines almost always are still good if maintained correctly.

The mini I bought runs great, what is it that wears out on these engines? I mean Ive read posts online about someone "blowing" an engine, what blows? Engines dont just go bad, a component does. What is it thats the source of this projected short life? Does the supercharger go bad and send metal shards into your engine or what? Im sorta confused because Ive never heard of such a short projected life of a modern automobile, and a cool one at that.

Somebody fill me in please, Im new to these cars and want to learn all I can.

A bit about me, Ive been a mechanic by necessity my whole life, own a landscaping business, done alot of mechanical work on equipment, cars, trucks, a plane...ect... I know nothing about minis lol.