Matra Murena

The Matra Murena is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car produced by the French Matra design group between 1980 and 1983. The Murena, whose name means “Moray” in Italian, was the successor to the similar Matra Bagheera, which was the result of an earlier collaboration between Matra and Simca. A characteristic feature taken from the previous model was the seating arrangement – all three seats were placed in one row, with the middle seat folding down to become an armrest.

In the Murena, the three seats were separated, in contrast to the 2+1 arrangement in the Bagheera.

Appearing in the May 1981 of Car magazine, automotive journalist LJK Setright, in an article titled “Murena the marvellous”, described the Murena as “a car equipped with such excellent suspension, and so you never have to drive slowly”. He also wrote that although the Murena is no sprinter when it comes to maintaining high speeds on curvy roads; “the Murena ranks among the top – it is better than the basic Porsche 924, as good as the Lancia Monte Carlo and in pure agility it loses only to the Fiat X1/9, while the Porsche 911 proves to be unbalanced and unfit.” He went on to write that it “is one of the most reactive cars ever to offer the driver a choice of how to handle through a corner.” Finally, he came to feel that the car would have had more power.