The best repair I have done to my car (W201) - and probably the cheapest - was replacng the gear lever silentblocks, which were damaged, allowing the lever to be all over the place.
After the repair the lever movement was very precise, which is nice in manual gearboxes.
The job takes a bit of time, but once you get the lever assembly out of the car, you can do the rest of the job confortably at home

Regards
gonzalo