[swartzentruber]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Anyway, I'm surprised no one yet that I've seen has mentioned the obvious explanation for why the incidence of bearing wear/blown engines could be lower in the UK, and that is higher average winter temperatures than most of the northern US and Canada (combined with the relatively thick TWS 10W-60 oil). There's likely a fairly big difference in cold start wear with that oil when you drive in climates where the low is 0 F (-18 C) vs where the low is 0 C (32 F).

Another possible explanation is differences in driving style (on average). Given cost of fuel, taxes, etc., I'd guess a UK car may be less likely to be a DD and more likely to be a weekend car. If this is the case, then a UK M3 would be on average likely to see fewer cold starts than the average American car. I think both of these hypotheses are more likely explanations than gas differences, if it is the case that this issue has a much lower incidence in the UK than the US.