Didn't really want to turn this into a war between watercooled and aircooled.
 I was just giving my opinions based on my own experiences about air and
water cooling.  If you have an aircooled engine in your VW that has gone
through over 200k miles with no problems, you are truely a blessed person.
If you have a watercooled Vanagon with over 200k miles on it with no problems
you are also blessed.  I have a '91 Carat Vanagon with power everything, AC,
Power Steering, cruise control, etc.  I love it.  I have driven several of my
customers Air Cooled vans and I think they are neat vehicles.  They don't
really seem underpowered to me.  However would I ever want to trade?  Nah!
If you have an air cooled van that is your baby you probably feel the same
way.

Air cooled engines have problems (dropping valve seats, no A/C, poor heat,
etc) and watercooled engines (waterboxers anyway) have problems (leaky heads,
aging coolant hoses).  I think that great thing about this list is that we
can enjoy our vans in spite of these things and perhaps in some strange way
these quirks actually endear these vehicles to us.  When we talk about our
trips in our van, we have alot of memories, and some adventures that I know
we never would have had if we were driving something "more reliable".  It
just part of the fun of a Vanagon.  Enjoy it.

Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
http://www.vanagain.com
Phone: (856)-327-4936
Fax: (856)-327-2242