Robert is right.
Moodle is like physics.
"All of Moodle is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it and then it becomes trivial" Ernest Rutherford (1871 - 1937) (Misquoted)
However, I do believe you will need some plugins to make Moodle look nice and to be usable and quick. Out of the box is has a few aspects that make it time consuming to use.
-Derek