This noise has to be coming from the turbo. I was down shifting from 4th to third through a 65deg turn and the most horrible whine happened under the hood (sounded just like a grinder warming up). This is my first turbo ed car i have owned but i have driven plenty. I have never heard of this sort of thing happening when you do either engine braking or even high rev matching. Has anyone done any spirited driving and have heard this or s it localized to my cooper?

 

I have heard the same thing and I find that it happens when down shifting without getting the revs up to match. Try jumping on it a little, throw the clutch in without reving up during the downshift and delay release of the clutch. My bet is you will hear the whine. If not that then , I know not what it may be.

 

I will give it a shot, but i am really not trying to duplicate the noise i just want to know if it was normal. If other people have heard it and its not just me then ......... i am not crazy. It really sounds like i still haven't mastered driving my car yet. Thanks for the response.

 

Haven't heard a noise like the one you describe, but you shouldn't be hearing any type of grinding noises from the turbo . If you downshift by dropping the clutch in to the lower gear, then yes you'll probably hear quite a few bizarre noises, you need to rev-match the gears before downshifting.

 

Rustyboy,

That must be some chunk of change you invested into you Mini.

 

I heard that noise once myself, although I was cruising at a sporty rate of speed and downshifted into second and braked at the same time, because I got cut off. I didn't have time to rev up to match....

 

Sounds like my ex wife.