Most manuals 190s I have seen have the regular H-pattern with first gear on the top left, second gear under it, third upper right and so forth.

A 1988 300TE I drove a long time ago had the first gear alone on the lower left of the H-pattern, then second gear was upper left, third under it, fourth upper right and fifth under it.
M-B called this pattern the "sport pattern" and I beleive it became standard on 300Es from 1988 onwards.

My guess is that the transmissions had some similarities but because of the greater torque of the 3.0 liter engine it had some upgrades beside the gear selection location.

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A. Rosich
CL 500, 1998
S 500 L, 1998
E 320 T, 1995 [Sadly sold ]