Set nocompatible at the very start of the file

vimrc

@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
 " Includes parts from Tim Pope's «sensible.vim»
 " <https://github.com/tpope/vim-sensible>.
 
+" ======================================================================
+" Set this first to avoid overwriting later settings.
+set nocompatible
+
 " ======================================================================
 " Load Pathogen if Vim does not support packages.
 if !has("packages")
@@ -49,7 +53,6 @@ set linebreak
 set list
 set listchars=tab:→·,trail:~,extends:>,precedes:<
 set modelines=0
-set nocompatible
 set nomodeline
 set nrformats-=octal
 set number