This is not a bug in vim. This is because Esc was historically used as a Meta key in lieu of the modern use of Alt. For example, if you use tmux, add the follo

This is not a bug in vim. This is because Esc was historically used as a Meta key in lieu of the modern use of Alt. For example, if you use tmux, add the following to .tmux.conf: set -s escape-time 0 Other terminal multiplexors and emulators have different commands for this. Edit: There are a few other possible issues you are having: http://www.johnhawthorn.com/2012/09/vi-escape-delays/ http://www.johnhawthorn.com/2012/09/vi-escape-delays/