Hi A.W. If you were flying in Great Britain you would most likely only have the option of a 30 or 40 year old Cessna, and most likely C152 not C172.
That is because of their relative costs. So look for the usual set of 6 'steam driven' Gauges, and a Carburettor engine.
My Aero Club does have a newish C172SP with Fuel injection engine, but only hires it out to trained pilots. ( It is a dog to start when hot, if you get the sequence wrong.)
As a cost effective start to your PPL you could see if the club has any old Charts for you to practice with. Practice some 100 nm routes, and see what type of airspace you encounter and at what altitude. Use a Permanent Marker Pen to mark the chart, and a Whiteboard Marker to erase that line after use.
One other pre PPL thing you could try, is to listen on a Scanner to the local airfield, to get used to the language used on the Radio.
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