elise engine issue - ideas?

[shirt]

hard to explain this, so bear with me.

i viewed a 2008 n/a elise this evening [i believe 2ZZ engine as it was 6 speed] and hope to buy it. the car is in dubai but was originally a canadian market car. very rare here and an itch i very much want to scratch.

owner seems a top chap. he owned it in canada and brought it with him 3 years ago, so continuous history but not all of it with lotus as we only got a dealer here last year.

the only issue with the car is a hesitancy when holding the car in 2nd or 3rd gear, demonstrated to me by the owner by him accelerating up to a corner but then holding constant throttle through it. rather than maintain constant revs the engine would hunt around slightly, modulating within a hundred rpm or so. almost like a staccato stutter. opening the throttle afterwards and all was normal. it seemed fine to me on the test drive but he knew about it and so could provoke it at will. i'm afraid i didn't take much notice of the revs though but say 3rd gear held around 35-40mph would be about right.

owner says he's only noticed this recently having not driven the car for a while. lotus tell him that it will likely be cured by new spark plugs. does this sound plausible?

i am a fairly competent mechanic but engines/mapping etc. is not my forte. i was thinking more dodgy TPS or split vacuum hose but really could use some pointers. i'm hoping to get a PPI done saturday but any inf. in the meantime would be helpful. the car is a very fair price considering age, mileage [45,000km] and condition. i don't mind buying with a known issue just as long as there's a simple fix.

[shirt]

thanks for the responses. i bought the car today and loving it so far. the PPI was very thorough and only found cosmetic issues [all easy fixes] and nothing major to report.

having driven the car a fair bit this evening, the engine stutter is a misfire. it only happens in 2nd/3rd when steering lock has been applied. you can hold constant revs through had corner and get the misfire, then straighten up and it disappears.

TC light isn't coming on and i can't believe the TC would be so intrusive as to kick in under those conditions [not flooring it, ambient temp of 27degC and clean dry tarmac!]. i'm wondering if there's an issue with the coil pack or maybe a sensor linked to the traction control module.

for now its merely irksome but i intend to drive the car a LOT over xmas including some hilariously good driving roads, so need to get this sorted ASAP.

[shirt]

i'll try that tonight.

quick update. drove the car with a colleague and fellow trackday enthusiast to demonstrate the TC cutting in. we both agree if lotus engineered the system to activate under those conditions they wouldn't have the reputation they do...

we then tried doing donuts in the works car park [block paving and very dusty so easy to do without being overly lairy] and the TC kicked in. we pressed the button, repeated, still the same.

so it seems like TC is activating and i can;t turn it off. the light on the switch doesn't come on/off so perhaps a broken switch, short circuit etc?

doesn't seem to be any info. regarding this online and its annoying me now.