Escort ZX2 sluggish power

I'm looking at purchasing a 2001 ZX2 sport with 80K. The car is available for a real decent price ($700). The seller mentioned potential engine issues. During a test drive, I noted very sluggish engine performance (my son has a ZX2 with 138K that has almost twice the acceleration). At freeway speeds or driving uphill, with the accelerator pegged, the engine will occasionally start to buck. Let up on the gas momentarily and the bucking goes away. The check engine light is not on, and other then the bucking, the engine runs smooth while idling or driving and sounds fine. Everything seems normal except for the sluggish power. The seller said the problem started 4 months ago and hasn't gotten any worse. Any suggestions on troubleshooting? PCM issue? Compression? If the engine is on it's way out, even $700 is not attractive to me.

That's a great souinding deal if the body, paint and interior are in good shape. You can rule out major engine damage by having a compression check done. Also, a Car-Fax on the VIN could give you some history on the car. The low performance could be due to a number of things. A slipped timing belt, clogged fuel filter, air filter restricted or a bad catalytic converter. Escorts are notorious for bad ignition wires early in their life. If the wires are shorting out it would make it, like you said, buck under a load. If I suggested only one thing for you to do it would be buy the car and replace the ignition wires. It could be the PCM. You can go back to default modes on the PCM and have it reset simply by taking the negative battery terminal loose for 15 minutes and then putting it back on. With no CEL flashing I would think you have just a very minor problem. If there was anything major wrong with it it would run like crap all the time. Yeah. If it was me I'd buy that car in a heartbeat. Sounds like a fantastic deal!