what could be wrong with my 2005 cavilier

Get the codes read at the parts store. Write down the trouble code number and post it here. Someone will advise the most cost effective solution.

tenspeed....you know the car...knows what usually creates this condition...why not ride the ragged edge and take a guess...I will probably do that....you know my style, and am going to go ahead and guess that an 02 sensor and/or a tps/accelerator sensor----where man meets machine....isn't it always~?

of course the OBD-II report~

You are right Judge. -- It could be the O2 sensor. They get slow around 100,000 miles. It could be a stuck PCV or EGR valve. It could be plugs or a dirty air filter. All regular stuff that should be checked and maintained on a regular basis. It could also be a small vacuum leak causing a lean fuel condition when starting out. --- With the CEL, get the codes read to see if a sensor or system has failed.

get one yourself though it has "on-board diagnostics" however cyrptic you could look at how to decode them in your owner's manual~

tenspeed....on the job~!!

More realistically it could be a million different issues. Clogged cat, clogged air filter, lack of fuel volume due to many issues, etc. I'd see what dtc's are in the PCM prior to taking online advice from some rand person

Tenspeed and judge_roy are not random....what I was prompting tenspeed to guess because these things do set up a pattern for failure...not simply a list of what may fail~ personally am leaning towards the whole business of where man meets machine...aka throttle position sensor or accelerator sensor (depending on the manufacture)...wear items are going to be a suspect first...not just some random assessment, but having solved a few hundred of these to "get a feel" for it~