Considering to buy an OM606 diesel

[DieselAddict]

I'm in the process of reconfiguring my fleet. I'm now down to 2 cars as I just sold my 87 300D and I want to keep it that way, but I am considering to replace my 82 300D with a OM606 diesel, either the 95 W124 or a 96-99 W210 and I'm totally undecided at this point. I know starting in 98 the cars have a turbo and a new 5-speed transmission and I test drove such a car about 3 years ago and I'm familiar with the W124 from my experience with the 87 300D. The 5-speed is nice but I was and still am concerned about whether this transmission is idiot-proof. The way the gear lever notches are set up, it seems it would be very easy when downshifting to accidentally push the lever from 4/OD all the way to 2. Does anyone know whether this transmission has a safety mechanism that would prevent the driver from over-reving the engine this way? As far as I know the older-style vacuum-operated transmissions have no such safety mechanism, but that's ok because the lever notches are relatively idiot-proof, but I'm not sure about this new 5-speed.