A partially clogged exhaust oxygen sensor, OR a malfunctioning fuel pressure regulator allowing fuel pressure to drop when the engine is not running COULD also cause this..................................................HOWEVER, you mentioned that your fuel use is up but that the vehicle will "run fine and drive fine" once it starts, so I suspect at least one leaky fuel injector. IF THIS IS THE CASE the engine will be running too rich ONLY on the effected cylinder(s). Pulling the spark plugs should show the difference between the cylinders that have been running rich and those that are not. (If this was a case of a spark plug or plugs consistently not firing, it would not be running fine and driving fine.) ................................................................................................... A leaky injector does more than simply leak fuel. .........................If its a fast enough leak OR a vehicle is left sitting long enough, all pressure in the fuel system can be lost, which makes starting take LONGER as the fuel pump(s) has/have to run long enough to build the fuel system pressure high enough to supply adequate fuel FLOW (during the short fractions of a second the injectors are supposed to be open), for starting the engine.ALSO, while an injector leaks, eventuallyenough fule accumulates in the engine itself that, as the engine is cranking, and pumping air loaded with unburned fuel past the oxygen sensor, it will read this a stoo rich a mixture and will shorten the amount of time the injectors are open-which, by itself, makes starting as sngine much harder...................................................................................................................... Odds are fairly strong something like this is happening as leaky/partially clogged injectors are VERY common as the engine mileage gets past about 70,000 without sufficiant injector treatment being added from time to time, or the engine accumulates equivalent running hours................................................................................................................. A work around (until you fix the problem), is to repeatedly turn the ignition key to RUN (not start), and let the fuel pump(s) run until they shut off-which SHOULD only be a few seconds each time........ DO NOT EVEN TRY TO START THE ENGINE UNTIL AFTER AT LEAST 3 OR 4 CYCLES.
