to spare me some tire life i leave my car in W mode and am easier on the throttle , that being said i do treat it like a mini sport mode button , ive never had any issues using it while in gear though since its just a signal switch that tells the carputer to start in a different gear , and to me it feels like it loosens the throttle a bit , since its a winter mode thing but that may just be me , i dont think playing with the switch will cause an issue really , the car seriously wont let you hurt it electronically, (its german) i found this out when i shifted from neutral to drive in motion while giving it too much gas, now in drive the car simply revved real high for a moment and when the carputer deemed it safe finally shifted into drive with hardly a bump