You're not imagining things - the noise of the motors is indeed an unfortunate feature fo some cams internal mics. Connecting an external mic will, as you imagined, help. However, the mics used in cams are omni directional and pick up everthing (this is why when filming speaches for example, mics will pick up the slightest thing in the background and "focus" on that rather than the actual speaker). They also "zoom in" as the picture zooms in.
Again, as you thought, the kind of mic you describe needs to be relatively close to the subject to pick it up. You can use lapel mics, but remember they have to be cabled to the cam (radio mics would prove more expensive than a new cam). You can also get desk mics that sit on tables to pick up everything around them.
But your best bet is to get something mic that attaches to you cam like the Sennheiser MKE 300D.
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