I think I can answer this question pretty well because I have owned a LOT of VW's, both aircooled and water cooled.  First of all the air-cooled systems are way less complicated than the water systems.  Making troubleshooting and self-repair much more feasible.  The fewer systems, the fewer the number of things that can go wrong. However, when somthing DOES go wrong on an aircooled, and you CANNOT fix it yourself, then I have found that professional work on these is more expensive and harder to find.  IMHO, the aircooleds also have a little more "style" and character than watercooleds.
Of course watercoooled have DECENT HEAT, a smoother ride, better steering, and more comfortable seats ;-)
I feel that, for my purposes, Air-cooled is the better bet, but there's that heat thing.  My solution:  I have a 71 Westy for warm seasons, and an 83.5 Water cooled Vanagon for the winter;-)
Peace, John Baker

On Mon, 7 Jan 2002 00:42:11 -0800 Claudio Cella <claudiocella@SHAW.CA> wrote:

Volks, i would be interested in hearing from owners of air and water cooled
Vanagons.  In your eyes what are the advantages and disadvanges of the water
cooled design and the air cooled design?  Presently have a water cooled
Vanagon and may be looking at buying an air cooled in the future.  Your
thoughts please.
Many thanks,   Claudio Cella
87  Vanagon GL
90  Jetta TD