Should make no impact to engine health. I suggest just letting it warm up first before sport mode. In my f80 6mt I drive in efficient mode until its warmed up, then once warm mostly sport, and sport+ if I'm feeling frisky. No impact to shifting aggression because manual.

As far as exhaust valves closing/opening, I do wonder if people that dont run efficient/comfort mode long enough end up with condensation in the quieter muffler loop.

Either or is fine for the engine. The DME parameters won't let the car hurt itself. That being said, sport shifts are more aggressive, so you'll feel the car jerk more if you're doing city driving in sport mode.

My personal preference is to leave the car in Drive (e90 335i so no "comfort" lol) when driving in the city and use Sport mode for highway driving or driving that doesn't require me to stop as often. You can really do it any way you want to, though.

I’m on comfort because CA laws 😢

Drive it in sport whenever you feel like it, for however long you feel like it.
If you care about your engine just do 5k interval oil changes.

If you have an automatic, sport will hold gears longer than necessary so generally the revs will be higher in sport than comfort. So yes technically sport stresses your engine more than comfort, but I would say that BMW engines are built well enough that the difference in harm is minuscule.

Sport mode adds weight to the steering, increases the speed of gear changes (auto), switches off start stop, sharpens throttle response, and tightens up the suspension (if fitted with adaptive suspension). It also pipes exhaust notes through the speakers.

If you have xDrive then Eco more makes your car rear wheel drive and reduces air con.

This is what I've noticed on my f36 430d xDrive

M/S is manual shift. You have to upsift manually, when coming to a stop car will downshift for you after a few seconds. I think the characteristics still depend on whether you're in eco/sport.

The mode switch usually changes tps voltage and shifting in the transmission. Sport gives full voltage and responsiveness and allows the transmission to shift later, and for each other mode it just lowers tps and rpm gear change

More sensitive throttle response, that's about it.

Moving the shifter to the left does 2 things:

- More aggressive and sportier shifts, though how aggressive depends on if you have 205 or 2TB.

- Won't upshift at red line if you're in manual shifting mode, and will stay in manual shifting mode until you move the shifter to the right again.

Overview https://i.imgur.com/ymO8MK2.png

Detailed https://i.imgur.com/6SWnofk.jpeg

Ignore the model names shown; it's all the same.

Sport: shifts at higher rpm, more sensitive throttle response, if you have adaptive suspension hardens it, makes the steering wheel heavier. It also opens the exhaust valves to improve the soundtrack.

Sport+: allows some wheel spin and prob more aggressive shifting

You can customize the above

İf you put the gear level to sport, that makes the shifts more aggressive but won't affect steering, throttle nor the suspension.

C-comfort mode, car starts in 2nd gear S-sport mode car starts in 1st gear and holds the shift longer

C starts in 2nd gear generally, S starts in 1st.

It will delay a shift to keep you in power band.

Changes the characteristics variable length intake runners for power over efficiency.

Will decrease shift time sacrificing comfort.

Also changes throttle response to a more linear map. ie in Comfort when you ask for 50% throttle it might only give you 30%. In sport its closer 1:1.

S shifts faster and keeps it in lower gear longer. I sometimes use S mode when merging on busy highways so I may accelerate into a gap without delay

In S the rpm for gear change is much higher, so the power of the engine is fully used and the consumption is greater. Best results is to activate Agility mode, where the lockup clutch slipping is highly reduced, so the car will lose very little smoothness but will be quite aggressive without high rpm. Best on diesel where the torque is much higher on low rpm

Honestly the biggest thing I’ve noticed is that c is better in rain and snow. Other than that it’s minimal

There's a section in the manual that breaks down the exact differences between the drive modes. Off the top of my head (speaking as a 6MT turbo 4 owner, IDK about how modes affect the PDK or the 4.0 specifically):

• Normal: softest engine mounts, no rev matching (6MT), thermostat closed (results in higher engine oil temp), moderately progressive throttle pedal.
• Sport: medium engine mount firmness, rev match enabled, thermostat open (lowers engine oil temp), very progressive throttle pedal (makes it much touchier), backfire enabled, auto S/S disabled, engine attempts to hold boost.
• Sport+: stiffest engine mounts, rev match enabled, thermostat open, linear throttle pedal (least touchy throttle), no backfire, auto S/S disabled, engine attempts to hold boost, suspension stiffened (PASM).

Traction control is adjusted independently of the drive mode via the PSM button.

I don’t know. What car do you have? Options? LOL. All the good ones are paid. Dynamic engine/transmission mounts. Suspension. LSD slip angle…  

Pretty sure when I go into sport mode I can hear the air suspension kick in to lower the car.

I just had a 2024 X5 sdrive 40i for a loaner for two weeks and I noticed when I switched it into Sport mode the seat side bolsters would slightly tighten and I could hear them every time, though sometimes I didn’t always “feel” them. Never noticed the sound when switching out of Sport when they’d loosen, probably just relaxed on their own vs motor/actuator/hydraulic used to make them tighten.

My X5, 2023, just started doing this exact thing over a long road trip. It never made the noise during the first 3000 miles, however, it started once I hit 4500 miles during the trip. It happens anytime I swith from Comfort, to anything in Sport. At first it sounded like it was under the dash, however, like some here mentioned, it might be the drivers seat. It’s a quick clicking/buzzing sound, and quiet annoying. I’ll mention it to my service advisor when I get an oil change in a few months.

I have a G30, and I run my car in sport individual with comfort settings. The artificial engine sound and exhaust valve will only open if the engine is set to sport so the only whirring sound I hear when I go from comfort to sport individual is the active bolsters on my seats tightening, nothing from under the dash.

I usually drive in normal anymore. I drove in eco for a long time after buying but found that I liked normal a little better and it didn't effect MPG much. Sport mode makes me feel like I'm gunning it when the lights turn green, lol. I could probably get used to it but I think the MPG would drop. ;)

It won’t effect reliability, just will probably use more fuel. I drive in normal mostly. I found eco to just be too sluggish, but normal was fine.

I like custom. Sport steering, normal drivetrain.

Fyi, you can select a setting where the AC will continue to work 'normally' in ECO and ignore the energy saving feature.

I love switching to Sport mode when driving in the mountains. The steering and acceleration are more responsive. FUN!

The main difference is the curve between the percent at which the accelerator pedal is pressed and the percent of the max acceleration. Made up numbers for the example:
- in normal/comfort, pedal pressed at 50% = 25% of the max acceleration, for lower consumption and easier dosage.
- in Sport mode, pedal at 50% = 30% or 40% of the max acceleration.
- Sport+ mode on the other hand is fully linear: 50% of the pedal = 50% of the max acceleration.

Other changes are on the chassis: suspension getting lowered and even more stiff.

The sport plus drive mode has a faster response time between your foot pressing the accelerator and motor changing speed. It’s very hard to notice.

 It also warms the battery to temperature and disables things like HVAC if necessary. 

The suspension is at “lowest” in Plus versus “low” in Sport

Your car also has a user manual; You should read it.