Chassis The Murena's chassis was a new design. In appearance it was very close to a full unitary body. The chassis differed from the Bagheera's in two significant ways; the rear cradle was reconfigured to accommodate a new rear suspension system, and the entire chassis was
galvanised to prevent the Murena from falling victim to the rust problems that plagued the Bagheera. The Murena was the first production car to use galvanised steel for all chassis parts. The car was only built in a left hand drive configuration, although a small number of right hand drive conversions were done by Wooler-Hodec.
Bodywork Like the chassis, the styling for the Murena was all-new. The final shape was very aerodynamic for the time, with a reported drag coefficient (\scriptstyle C_\mathrm d\,) of 0.328. The rear hatch opened to provide access to the engine mounted behind the passenger compartment and a rear luggage area. A signature feature carried over 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 when not in use by a passenger. In the Murena the three seats were separate, in contrast to the 2+1 arrangement in the Bagheera. The car's twelve major body panels were made of
fibreglass-
epoxy. According to Matra's general manager, Jean-Louis Caussin, these body panels were produced using a manufacturing process known as the "sheet moulding compound" moulding process. The new galvanised chassis coupled with the composite panels made the car essentially immune to rust, except for the rear suspension's
trailing arms. Over its production life the car was offered in a range of ten colours; platinum metallic, white neve, coral metallic, Hudson green, bordeau, mephisto red, titanium gray, cinnamon metallic, mimosa yellow, and Colombia blue (in 2 versions, a purple tint for the 1984 modelyear).
Suspension The front suspension was similar to the Bagheera's, while the rear suspension was a departure from the Murena's predecessor. In the tradition of the Simca 1100, Talbot Alpine, and Talbot Horizon, at the front were upper and lower transverse A-arms with longitudinal torsion bars and telescopic hydraulic shock-absorbers. An anti-roll bar was also fitted. At the rear, the Bagheera's torsion bar suspension was replaced by semi-trailing arms with coil springs mounted on telescopic hydraulic shock absorbers. An anti-roll bar was also fitted at the rear.
Powertrain Two engines were offered. The base model had a 1.6-litre
Poissy engine, while the more powerful version came with a 2.2-litre
Type 180. The 2.2-litre engine could also be ordered with a performance package called the "Préparation 142" option that raised the power output from to . This kit was initially a dealer-installed option, but the last 480 Murenas came with this uprated engine directly from the factory. This version was called the Murena S. The standard 2.2-litre engine used a single
Solex down-draught carburetor, but S models had twin side-draught
Solex carburetors. The Murena received a 5-speed manual transaxle derived from that of the Citroën CX (or depending on the model year the Lancia Beta). Different models of Murena used different final-drive ratios but all Murenas used the same transaxle. ==Technical details==