Hey,

Mine's the same way as far as the throttle is concerned. It takes a bunch af throttle movement on the low end to increase engine speed. I guess it's normal. As far as the hard start.. . .Mine had a problem when warm starting. The only time I ever had problem on a cold start, I just squeezed the primer bulb a few times, and it lit right up. I don't beleive that you don't have to prime these things. You need to make sure that you have the latest map upgrade, or you will have starting issues sometimes. Get the upgrade and it will take care of the hot start issues if you have any, and will smooth out the idle. I had mine done, and have had no problems since.

Good luck