2003 malibu coughing start

hey, i have a 2003 chevy malibu. it has around 69400 miles on it and ive been driving it a lot lately because my commute is around 45 miles. today i started my car and it seemed to cough a bit and it finally cranked. it then when in low gears or at low speed seemed to accelerate uneavenly, like it seemed to get stuck in some places and run a little hot. i live in a hot area so im not really that concerned about that but does anyone know what this might be?

Maybe your fuel injectors are a little dirty. Running a big bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner in the tank should help.