I dont think that you can get away from old training planes though some schools do keep their planes looking better than others. So long as the planes are maintained to a high standard then I see no reason to complain about the aircraft. If you do a good enough A-check/Pre-flight you should be able to spot anything major that is wrong with the aircraft anyway.
As for instructor availability I've been having that problem recently too. Mostly because a few of the instructors at my school are away on holiday so all the students have been lumped onto the instructors that are left. What I've decided to do is set aside a certain days every week that I want to fly and have asked my instructor to book me in with him every week on those days without even asking me. It's to his benefit too as he only gets paid hourly flying rates and no base salary so knowing that he has a regular student helps him.
Thats my 2 cents. Hopefully others will post too
