93' ford escort gt acceleration problems...

[dalejr8fan8]

OK, had this escort about a year now bought it used, was impressed with it's preformance when i purchased it but recently not at all happy. It has 130,000 k on it I've preformed all routine maintenance on the car for the last year. The problem is, first of all it is starting to "chug" when starting from a stop, feels as if it's running on 2 or 3 cylinders then picks up after about 500 feet and runs fine but then does the same after stopping or slowing down. In addition when driving in between 45 and 55 (the normal overdrive range) it jerks violently doesn't feel safe at all. So where do I trouble shoot first? FUEL SYSTEMS?,INTAKE?,TRANSMISSION?

Please not(this vehicle has straight exhaust) no catalytic converter, might it be an EGR valve or oxygen sensor?

thank you for any replies or suggestions. Josh, Indana