Matra Murena, Me wants one. Options

[Autovisie]

"Two girlfriends or two friends is better then one...."


The story:
When Matra introduced the Bagheera in the late 70's Matra it became a very popular sportscar, but after several years Matra wanted to create a new "3 seater" which would be better resistant to the European humid weather conditions. Matra created the Murena, a "3 seater" with a glasfiber body and a galvanised steel chassis that would not rust.. The concept of working together with a big carcompany like Simca (Talbot) was prolonged which resulted in affortable sportscar with low maintenance costs. Between 1981 and 1984 Matra built "only" 10.500 Murenas which makes it a exclusive sportscar.

Murena design:
The Matra Murena sportscoupe has a unresistable style which in traffic will make many heads turn. Her perfect streamlined contours give the car a dynamic airflowcoefficient of 0.328. In her time the lowest ever of all productioncars. The Murena is the first car in the world wich has a thermal galvanised chassis. The car's chassis goes through a pool of liquid Cink at a temperature of 460 C. The carrossery is made of Glasfiber, so Murena-owners can say : "rust ?, whats that ?". Thats why you still will see a lot of the original 10.500 Murena's, where most of the other cars of the same age are nothing more then a block of rust.

Drive characteristics and comfort:
The mid-engine-concept gives the car a very high standard in driveability. Almost like the big sportscars but for a much better price

Some figures:
- The Murena has (thanks to her mid-engine-concept) a "big" rear compartment
- Petrol-consumption at 120 km/h 1.6 1:13.7 and 2.2 1:11.6 (liters)
- Weight 1.6 933 kilo en 2.2 1030 kilo
- Engine: 1.6 from Peugeot 309, and 2.2 from Peugeot 505
- Both the 1.6 and 2.2 drives on Leadfree petrol and Super

Numerical data:

Cilindervolume: 1592 cc (2155 cc)
Max. poweroutput (pk/kW): 92 / 67,6 (118 / 86,8)
- at revs/min: 5600 (5800)
Compressionrate: 9,35:1 (9,45:1)
Fuel: super/leadfree (super/leadfree)
Weight (with full tank): 1000 kg (1050 kg)
Weights on axes:
- on front-ax: 415 kg (435 kg)
- on rear-ax: 585 kg (615 kg)
Max. weight: 1260 kg (1310 kg)
- on front-ax: 560 kg (580 kg)
- on rear-ax:: 900 kg (930 kg)
Wheelsize: 5,5J x 13 (6J x 14)
Tires:
- front: 175 x 70HR13 (185 x 60HR14)
- rear: 195 x 70HR13 (195 x 60HR14)
Topspeed: 182km/h (197km/h)
Acceleration 0-100 km/h 11,8 sec. (9,3 sec.)

[moe89]

its cool looking. but what is special aboot it?

[clarkma5]

its cool looking. but what is special aboot it?

It has three seats abreast a decade before the McLaren F1 and the lowest coefficient of drag for its time?

[DZ302]

i hate it. it looks like a delorean, only uglier (if that is even possible)

[moe89]

yea the seats are cool, nothing really all that striking. The very CoD seems a bit redundant since it is a slow car.

[midnightdorifto]

It has three seats abreast a decade before the McLaren F1 and the lowest coefficient of drag for its time?

I believe that Lamborghini designed a Miura prototype 3-seater back in the 60's...

[clarkma5]

well, that was a prototype, not a production vehicle.

And I give this car a cool...the styling is just kinda neat and I like it for some reason.

[snakefood]

dont like it!

[Halflifehavock13]

My blazer does 0-60 faster than that thing.

[chillinmofo1]

The F1 seats three in a better way than a bench seat. And this is ugly. :thumbs down:

[darinzon]

sorry, matra makes race cars, not street cars.

stupid

[speedyK]

It was a pretty cool car at the time. It looked amazing in contrast to almost anything on the road.

In the early 80's, I sold my new Fiat X1/9 1500 to get a Murena 2.2.

The aerodynamics were sensational at the time, drag coefficient of 0.32 at a time when most cars, even "sporty" ones like Beemers, were like a barn on wheels.

It didn't have masses of power, but the 118bhp were enough to keep it at 125mph all the time across (de-restricted) Germany. I was almost never overtaken on trans-Europe trips driving two-up. Actually did one trip 3-up. Far more usable than many so-called 2+2's.

The ground-breaking zinc-dipped steel structure clad in fibreglass panels was rot-proof (unlike the Fiat which was already showing rust on seams after a year). The handling, balance and grip were superb. The chassis was sorted – I had mine lowered by Gutmann and it was tied down but comfortably compliant.

Criticisms? A six pot would have been more refined and I missed the targe top facility of the X1/9 on sunny days.

I loved mine.



It was way ahead of its time, but things have progressed since 1981. Porsche claim to have actually managed to beat the Murena now – the cd of the Cayman is around 0.31, I believe – only took them a quarter of a century to do that!

When my situation permitted it again, I was straight back into mid-engined cars. The current one is more hardcore, but the Matra was a very good car.

IMO, at the time it was most definitely "frozen" – and it is certainly still cool (so I voted "cool")

[infinity]

Unique, rare, attractive, functional, and with breakthrough technologies. Pretty cool in my opinion.

[murenas are cool]

For some reason the wrong quote was inserted in my post.

I was mainly replying to the post by DZ302 which stated:

"i hate it. it looks like a delorean, only uglier (if that is even possible)"

Therefore I stand by my comments.

Typical American opinion of a car. If it aint big brash and fast in a straight line it is no use. Unlike all Yank Tanks Murenas are fast where it matters - on the twisty bits! It might not be much use on a drag strip but you dont have to slow down much for the corners so a to b times kick ass.

I would add that finding an American car from the 80's that could stay in a straight line over 50 mph was hard enough and as for going around corners.......

[clarkma5]

Typical American opinion of a car. If it aint big brash and fast in a straight line it is no use. Unlike all Yank Tanks Murenas are fast where it matters - on the twisty bits! It might not be much use on a drag strip but you dont have to slow down much for the corners so a to b times kick ass.

there's a good way to get banned.

[GreyGhost]

Pugfugly is the word tha comes to mind.

[DakianDelomast]

Drag Coeffs is one of the stupidest arguments for a vehicle's superiority.

[PBB]

Typical American opinion of a car. If it aint big brash and fast in a straight line it is no use. Unlike all Yank Tanks Murenas are fast where it matters - on the twisty bits! It might not be much use on a drag strip but you dont have to slow down much for the corners so a to b times kick ass.

How is not liking a car for undisclosed reasons automatically an American viewpoint? Or did speedyK get you to join here because those "heathen Americans" don't adore the Murena? Regardless, snakefood is German and you're a moron.

[moe]

Sounds like fun, but it doesn't look that great. It's somewhere between cool and uncool...

[speedyK]

Quote PBB: How is not liking a car for undisclosed reasons automatically an American viewpoint? Or did speedyK get you to join here because those "heathen Americans" don't adore the Murena? Regardless, snakefood is German and you're a moron.

Not guilty!

Btw, Matra were perfectly capable of making powerful cars: They won the Formula 1 World Championhip and driver's title, then turned to Le Mans and proceeded to win that three times in a row. But they didn't just make powerful V12-engined racing cars; in their road cars they used their race-derived aerodynamic effiiciency and suspension knowledge to make a rewarding driving machines with small capacity engines and low weight. This meant it was affordable!

They followed a very similar approach to Lotus, namely that it is not simply about power, but about power-to-weight ratio and advanced chassis and suspension design.

Enjoying a car, particularly when the road is not straight, is about more than acceleration or top speed. To paraphrase Lotus founder, Colin Chapman, a powerful car is fast on a straight, but a light car is fast everywhere. It is also about handling, steering response, balance, grip, suspension that controls the car without being harsh, good gearchange set-up, pleasantly balanced controls, well matched engine-gearbox combination, good seating postion, etc., etc.

When you consider that Matra had been taken under the wing of Chrysler and were limited to raiding the parts bin of French Chrysler subsidiary, Simca (later Talbot) which consisted of very drab and mundane machinery, it has to be said that Matra did sensationally well.

Their ground-breaking chassis construction, great suspension and efficient body allowed a fantastic driving experience to be enjoyed by many who would otherwise have been limited to the pathetic, antiquated "sporty" offerings in the same price category from such marques as Alfa Romeo with their Spider. A similar mid-engined car, the Lancia Beta Monte Carlo (known as the Scorpion in N. America) was withdrawn due to appalling brakes and returned later in a revised version, but never showed the competence the Matra posessed.

Judging a 1981 car against currentday sportscars is unfair. If you look at what else was available then in the price range, the Murena stands tall as a baby supercar for family car money rather than telephone number money. The styling was very ahead of its time. The shape of the Murena's A-Pillar is strikingly similar to that of the new BMW 5-series 25 years (yes, a quarter of a century) later. Try comparing the A-Pillar of a 1981 BMW 5-series with that!!!

The styling can't have been that bad: I debadged my Murena as I didn't like the excessively large stuck-on vinyl lettering saying "TALBOT-MATRA" on the back and "MURENA" on the front. People often believed they had correctly identified it as a Maserati, Ferrari or similar and were quite non-plussed when its true origin was explained.