There was certainly a good deal of that, but my main issues were with "of the time" content stuff - sexism, bigotry, ableism, etc. Things to be expected in "edgy" nerd media of the time. Like I said, though, still fun to play through.

For the more technical roughness, I highly recommend Fallout1in2 (if you have both 1 and 2), as well as the Fallout 2 Restoration Project. Both of those completely smoothed over the rough edges for me and added a number of QoL things that were very appreciated.

Yeah there are some really good mods for Fallout 2, even including some rudimentary party member control which helps a lot.

I also want to shout out the mods Talking Heads and Talking Heads Actually Talk which while yes, you may or may not want on a first playthrough are both fantastic and blends right in with vanilla.

Nice. I wouldn't stress too much about the car. It's definitely a later-game upgrade that takes a decent amount of work and resources to make happen. Definitely good to have, though, so keep it in mind as you play through the game.