What makes you think CATS is a new outfit? They have been around for years and long past the stage of guinea pigs.
Everyone's getting twitched up about the new syllabus - all the authorities have done is essentially move topics from one subject to another and otherwise shuffle things around, and maybe update here and there. After all, the various ways of explaining how altimeters work were done and dusted way back when. You can't really add much new to it, aside from questions. The real difference is in the exams themselves. Assuming the questions are correct, and assuming you have done the work, there's no reason why there should be a problem.
As for the modules and the time taken, why not ask them directly? They don't bite!
Presumably by "guided distance learning" you mean full time but not in a CATS classroom? i.e. not officially "residential"? It's a good workaround if the "full time" instructors know what they are up to.