A motor vehicle door lock with lock latch (30) and detent pawl (31) with a lock mechanism with a base plate (2), an inner release lever (3), an outer release lever (4), an inner safety lever (7), an outer safety lever (8) coupled with inner safety lever (7), and a central lock lever (9) acting on outer safety lever (8) and able to be connected to a central lock drive. The outer safety lever (8) which is stopped in a released position when the lock latch (30) and detent pawl (31) are open, is mechanically optimized, while taking into consideration the requirements of a multistep locking by a central lock by making the stopping of the outer safety lever (8) disengageable, when lock latch (30) and detent pawl (31) are open, by movement of the central lock lever (9) toward a safety position, so that outer safety lever (8) can then be brought with central lock lever (9) into the safety position.