Some defaults aren't very usable, although "Debian defaults" are very close. I had the same approach, but lately I've decided to add plugins or configuration to "enhance" and never "replace", and I have never been happier as I'm now with vim.

I also decided to invest some time to move to vim + tmux instead of using gvim and now that I'm used to the extras I get with tmux (yep, terminal support in vim 8 is nice but not as flexible), I think I can't go back!