After I let my car sit for a day or so, when it's cold, it makes a noise when starting up. It sounds like it would if you held the key in the 'Start' position after it's already started. The car starts just fine though. My technique for starting has always been to release the key as soon as the engine turns over. I've had the car for about a year and a half, and it started doing this just this winter. Any ideas what it may be? I haven't taken it in because recreating the problem would be impossible unless I left it at the dealer for a couple of days, which, this being my daily driver, I don't want to do.

 

If it sounds like it is coming from the starter as you are describing then I would look to the starter going out?

 

Maybe, but wouldn't the car have trouble starting if that were the case? And it's not consistently doing this -- only when cold.

 

Resurrecting an old thread because I figured out what the issue was: a dying battery. Apparently (on my GT at least) when this is happening, two things occur:
1. Starter is getting less-than-optimal current, thus causing the starter noise.
2. The dash lights come on about a second after startup instead of instantly.
So if these things are happening to you, get a new battery and see if that fixes the problem. It did with mine.

 

Wow, it took 4 years to resolve this issue!