Hey Guys,
Don't expect airplanes in pristine condition. Remember these birds are 10 - 15 years old. One of them was used in the Boeing certification program. And these birds have been worked very hard and have their fair share of wear and tear.
Corrosion can be expected, especially toilet areas/plumbing fixtures.
Avionics wise, all of the 744 that SQ operate have SATCOM/ACARS/ADS/CPDLC/etc.. I can't say what condition the interior of the airplanes are in. When the airplanes were operational, they had inseat videos in every seat with the Matsu****a 2000 CMIV. Some of these may have been scavenged for use in the current fleet.
Interiors may be a bit worn, but to be expected for airplanes this old. Nothing that a good paint / upholstery job cannot fix.
No major accidents on any of the airframes, only 2 tail scrapes on different airplanes to my knowledge. One of them relatively minor and the other more recently in AKL.
Maintenance standards are quite good. Some people gripe that the airplanes are badly maintained whenever they see more than 2 items on the Deferred defect log. However in most cases these are relatively minor, the engineering dept does not dispatch the airplanes with any more than 2 defect items that cause fuel penalties.
Only drawback that I could see over the years is the high fuel burn APDs. But these I think are because of the PW4056 engines. Some of them may not have been modified to comply with the FAA air wortiness directives covering the CWT & HST and the IDS software load may not be the latest but can be expected because some were already in storage when these were issued.
So there you have it, my 2 cents worth. I reckon, just like buying any used car, you would need to get your own guys to look them over. Or you could talk to some guys who have bought or leased some of the SQ airplanes eg: Ansett, Fiji Air Pacific & Iberia.
Cheers