Ok, so yesterday I went out and messed around with the front set of wires before taking it for a long drive. I drove it for quite some time and it STOPPED DOING THAT STUPID SPUTTERING THING! It drove great for about a good hour and then on the way home it started doing it again. So later I did a closer inspection of those wires, looked for burns, external damage or wear, and I couldn't find any. I put them back on and tried to make sure they weren't touching anything (as much as possible anyway) and then drove it around some more last night. No hiccups. Then on the way to work (abt 45 minute drive) it didn't do anything stupid either.

So I'm going to keep my eye on it, but fooling around with the wires definitely made a difference.