ah right i assumed the downpipe was separate to the cat, i have a mate with the new version of vag com so that shouldnt be an issue coding it i just cba with changing the cat over at mot time, so i assume the best thing to do is look for a cheap sports cat with no pre cat or as you say butcher the oem cat with this aftermarket downpipe but that will take the cheapness out of it which is the only thing that is swaying me towards a stage 2 map as i have another project which is my toy this is just supposed to be a sensible daily car so i dont need to go all out on it
if i am going to get the new downpipe welded to the oem cat i might aswell just not buy the downpipe and just go straight to a custom exhaust centre and get them to fab one up, while im there they can do the suitcase delete and get some r32 pipes welded on :D