Sorry to bump the thread but seems the most relevant one to post on without starting something new.

I've just experienced failure of a BXE engine first hand on my 2009 golf estate. I've only had the car a couple of months, granted it has high miles of 140k but full service history, and now I really wish I'd done more homework on engine codes but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I experienced a loud tapping / banging noise from the engine after about 70 miles of motorway driving.
I pulled off at the nearest town to save being stuck at the roadside.
RAC failed to recover the vehicle within 24 hours so I asked a local garage to check it over and they came back with suspected cam shaft wear/ bearings gone. I don't think the block cracked though.

I've finally got the car back and now looking for replacement engines, so far have found three engines with the following codes for sale fairly local to me and wondering if anyone can advise if any is a direct swap for bxe or if any are more suited?

AVQ, BKC or BXF

I'm looking at the modest price of £150 for the avq and possibly the same on bkc. Unsure on age or milage yet on any of them.

Any advice appreciated! Cheers