89 Vanagon GL pre-purchase help needed

greetings, I've come across a couple for what seems to be good prices and I THINK I'm about to make my decision, found a 89 with 106k that the owner had said he had "overhauled", I like the utility of it but I'm confused. There are not enough of them for sale near by to get a handle on the overall power of the 2.1l engine. I drove one last night and I was amazed at how far I had to press the accelerator to get going fast enough to merge with street traffic in my lifetime. When I floored it, it just seemed to spool up, no hurries, no feeling of torque at all. It almost seemed like it bogged ever so slightly at first; like a tiny bit of hesitation before it started to build speed. I went up a moderate hill and in order to hold speed or better it had to be near floored. Is this what I should expect? I know this can't be answered totally, but in general, should I expect to have to floor it to merge into 35mph traffic? Does anyone have a list of what should be done during and "overhaul"? Your comments are appreciated! This one will be gone by the weekend...