Pace - yes, carbon fibre and especially Kevlar have better impact resistance. This is why whitewater canoes are almost never wood or aluminium. But impact resistance is less important for aircraft.
IO - this is true for old aircraft, but certainly not for new construction of wood composites. Just like canoes and other modern wood epoxy boats, the outer shell is covered in epoxy/glass. This makes it 100% water resistant. In fact, this is how they conserve many old wooend ships today.
Wood quality is important if you build in traditional ways. But less so when you're using wood as a compound material in epoxy construction. Then you can form very thin layers of ply of slightly various quality and still get a stiff structure.
Ask yourselves - why is every skateboard made out of plywood and not carbon fibre or aluminium?