For the maintainence of the lancer I will say i have not had a problem with the car or the price of the spares. It is certainly a dealer problem. I had promised an email of the HM guy . Here it is.
ni_lancer@rediffmail.com
The name of the Gentleman is Mr. Narayan Iyer and he is very helpful. Lancers are known for their build quality if I am not wrong.So I think A proper service and repair will iron out most of the errors for a long time.
for a new hatch car I would suggest
1. maruti Swift for a family car and hyundai getz for singles.
2. Tata Indica DLE for anybody.
if your friend is enthusiastic about driving ask him to wait for the 1.6 palio which many people have confirmed is being relaunched on demand.