So I contacted my dealer via Facebook and asked them about
the long term ownership. They have been a good service dealer
for me since I bought the car new. It's the local one to Raleigh
NC I do not mind saying Flow MINI since they do a great job.

The service advisor told me that the Justa is not prone to the
two major issues I identified as being problematic in the S:
the breaking timing chain bolt thing and the leaking or exploding
thermostat/thermostat housing.

Just to let everybody know.

I've decided to drive this car as a normal car, long term, and stop
worrying about having X blow up or Y catch on fire.
97k miles.

 

Same here! I have changed the auto tranny fluid (from the pan) twice, changed the oil on about 12k mile intervals (95% of the miles are freeway), changed the spark plugs and air filter at 50k miles. Currently at 63k miles.

Going to update the vehicle software this spring and will change the coolant soon (supposed to live to 100k). No visible leaks at the thermostat but I do seem to be loosing coolant extremely slowly (and had that problem early on where the dealer replaced an O-RING somewhere).

 

I've had a couple of major repairs under warranty, but my justa is running well now. Why are you updating the vehicle software?