yes and no

An air cooled engine used air and oil.
The oil ways would be bigger and once moving air flow was unlikely to
disappear unless the engine got totally sealed and isolated.

A water cooled engine has to find space in a similar physical size of
unit to fit both oil and liquid coolant.
That will mean thinner oil galleries, and the ability to close off some
of the air flow so you can sound deaden the engine bay to keep the
greenies happy. And unlike an aircooled engine, it is very possible to
lose major coolant source at speed (hose pops off/headgasket
goes/radiator pops). Combine that with less airflow at speed, and less
oil and engines get hurt real quick if it happens when you are seriously
playing.

    Water-cooling v aircooling, yes. And I've got no problem with
water-pumpers, having owned 2 Porsches with watercooled engines
earlier this year (a 944 and 928).
    But the change to water-cooling also signified a change at Porsche.
Weideking (sp?) changed Porsche's manufacturing philosophy after
bringing in consultants from Japanese car companies to streamline the
building process.
    Prior to the changes, I would describe Porsches as over-engineered,
while the 996 and Boxster are (as I wrote) engineered to a price
point. Rather than spend the money to make the engines the best they
could muster, they're now built to be the best Porsche can do - for
the money. The previous cars are durable and can rack up 100s of
thousands of miles, but the company teetered on the brink of
bankruptcy on a regular basis. The current cars are faster and more
up-to-date and Porsche is now the most profitable car company on the
planet
    Time will tell how durable the 996 and its variants are (I
personally think the RMS issue is overstated, but I'm sorry to see
Porsche didn't correct it for the 997). Some people see it as
significant that for the competition-spec cars, Porsche reverts to the
993 engine case.
    To me the cars don't seem as solidly built as my old ones. You can
find a 996 for less than a 993 with similar miles, and some are as low
as a 964 or G50 911. People are less confident in the new cars when
out of warranty than the old ones.
    epbrown
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2003 BMW 325i Black/Black
2003 BMW Z4 Black/Black