Please be gentle with my stupidity. Go easy on me. I purchased a scion iq in October. I've been driving it ever since. On the gear shifter thingy it has Park, Reverse, Neutral, S-D, and B. I just figured if I shifted it to S-D, then it would driver regular. But I had no Idea that in that notch if you have it to the right it goes to D. I've been driving my scion IQ in S for the past 4 months. I just today realize when my knee hit the gearshift that you can put it to the right. Boy, do I feel stupid. I've been driving my car with the S mode on on for 4 months, never realizing if you put it to the right you can drive it in D mode. No wonder my gas mileage has sucked. Ugh. My question is this. Can this ruin your car? Did I damage it in any way by doing this?

Sincerely
Stupid

 

You probably didn't do any damage to your iQ. You should notice a difference in your gas mileage though, lower RPM's when using the "D" mode. Just be glad you weren't driving around in "B" mode.

 

You did absolutely nothing to your car except make it a bit peppier. "S" mode lowers the gear ratios for your CVT for more rapid acceleration and will shift much later for more power. All you did was drop your MPG.