The cam failures happen only on specific model years of VW engines I think 2006 is a bad year which has the fuel pump driven off of the cam. You need to just use a very very specific VW oil and filters and keep it changed to prevent the wear that causes failure. Most of the engines they are selling are the 1998-2000ish ones I believe which I don't think had that problem
I thought long and hard about the VW swap. The plucky jeep 4cyl does just awesome for everything except highway speeds, which becomes an aerodynamic disadvantage. I just decided to call a spade a spade and got a car for that and a truck for hauling. Im a lot happier.
Now if your jeep is all you have and you are trying to make one chassis do everything possible and use it enough to see the fuel savings versus the install cost, IMO a VW diesel is an unbeatable choice.