To operate an internal combustion engine in various operation modes in which, on one hand, comfortableness is not impaired as far as possible by the switching of an operation mode and, on the other hand, the fuel cost of the internal combustion engine is reduced as small as possible.

This control device is formed so that operator characteristics or traveling conditions for selecting a plurality of operation modes can be identified selectively and the results are taken into account when the operation modes are selected. For an internal combustion engine 6 with a controllable transmission 7, the operation modes and transmission positions are selected so that a specified torque can be generated and the fuel cost of the internal combustion engine 6 is reduced to a minimum.