Having to push the throttle to the floor for the car to start sounds like it's flooding. I assume its fuel injected? On EFI pushing the pedal to the floor when cranking is deflood mode, the fuel injectors are shut off until it starts. Once it senses ignition by the crankshaft position sensor signal, the injectors are turned back on. That's a simplified explanation but it's pretty much how it works. Check the fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail (if it has one that is). Pull the vacuum hose off and check for the presence of fuel, there should be none. I only mention it because that's a common problem on GM products from the late '90's and 2000's. The diaphragm ruptures. Just something to check on anyways.
Many moons ago (1984 to be exact), I bought a '76 Dodge Colt 2 door. Yeah I know but, I needed a car NOW and it was $100 so............ Rust free except the strut towers and the LF fender was smashed. Interior was literally MINT, looked brand new yet. Anyways, I found the 1.6L and 3 speed auto trans (looked like a scaled down TF) added up to "relaxed" acceleration and,,,,,,,,less heat in the winter than my buddy's '71 Super Beetle and almost as slow. On the plus side, it got crappy mileage for the size of the car. Lucky if it cracked 22 mpg on the highway at the then federal speed limit of 55 mph, but at 55 it was turning 4,000 rpm so........... Still, it always started and ran fine. One day I hit a bump and watched the hood bend. One strut tower was not attached to the car anymore and the other one wasn't much better. At that time I had no way of fixing it. I was going to have it hauled away to the scrap yard and some guy stopped and ask about it. I told him exactly what the problem was and he says "would you take $100 for it?' Gee, let me think about that for a second,,,,,,YES, lol. Pay $100, drive it a year, sell it for $100, works for me. No idea what he did with the thing, never saw it again.
Put a black stripe down the side (and smash the left fender) and it looked exactly like this:
Hmmm, taillights on those Colts look familiar somehow