dobie dude

Hello to all, I am new to this forum and I look forward to helping others when I learn enough to know what I am talking about. I am going to look at a 1991 Legacy (2.2L) tomorrow (and if you can answer a question for me that would be great) with just over 80K miles(that is owned by an elderly lady?) and is an automatic. They are saying that the car idles fine but it quits under load. Can anyone give me an idea what the problem is? Does it sound like an electrical problem or maybe a sensor or the ECU or something else? I want to buy it unless their may be an issue with the engine, but it doesn't make any sence to me if it idles great that there is a mechanical problem. What I would like to do is fix it and drive it until I can afford to install it in my Vanagon. At 80K miles it would be perfect for me. I live in Ca., so I need to use the 2.2 and I really do not want to depend on an engine with alot of miles. Also I tried to search for this info but I am not the best with computer stuff. Thanks in advance for all of your help.