This is normal. Merecedes changed the ratios several times throughout the production lifeline to try to bring highway RPMS lower and conserve fuel. They only had four gears to work with and they tried to get the most efficency out of it. This is why they shift so fast. This is normal as far as my experiences. At least the bright side is that the early models like yours have the fastest accel to 100. Of course if you want more control you can always shift for yourself
