I'm from Turkey, MINI's are not that uncommon, yet everywhere I look, I see either R53, R56 LCI or new F56 when it comes to S variation.

I've been to Germany last summer, I had visited 6 of their biggest cities and same story, pre-LCI R56S' are very very uncommon. Maybe less than 5% of the total MINI population.

Now I have a very good relationship with my '09 S but she's getting older. She's just under 100k miles right now, it has no major problems, yet it seems that I might be the only happy person with this car since they are nowhere to be found.

What do you guys think? are pre-LCI R56S' trash?

-Sorry for the typo at the title.

 

The other factor working against seeing them is time. Im not sure how often cars in turkey are turned over but its 2017 and pre LCI would mean 2010 or earlier. 7 years is a long time in car years. It is possible people upgraded or moved on. The original R53 crowd had a bit of a higher following for there cars so I would imagine that market has reached steady state and the people who do have them know how and where to service for a reasonable price and or dont care about price.
In general mini's are a niche product. Any niche product is less reliable due to there being less of them in total. If it were non niche, say a VW polo or the like you would still see many more of them.
Ultimately you should ask yourself: do I like this platform enough to justify the costs of maintenance and or is it worth trading in for something newer (which is costly also but would decrease the uncertainty of maintenance/repair.) Only you can answer that.

 

If your N14 is treating you well, and has been well maintained, I would say Motor On. Keep a close eye on your oil level. Stay up on your oil and filter changes. Get on it now and then. Rag it out! It's not meant to be a Honda or Toyota. It is a performance car, in a small package. Due to being a turbo, it will need more care and attention. I always advise folks to buy the N18, because it has less propensity towards carbon buildup issues on the intake valves. I think that a lot of the N14's issues were caused by lack of maintenance and folks not realizing that the 15k oil changes were not optimal for longevity.