artds

That's incorrect. It wasn't offered as a color choice on the 2013 MKZ. This was likely due to Lincoln wishing to push the new smoked quartz color, and not wanting to have too many options in the gray spectrum.

I'm 100% positive. It was sterling grey or something close to it. Definitely not one of the existing 2013 color options.

I don't know whether this was already a known 2014 color choice, as I've been out of the loop for a while. It looked a shade or two lighter than the sterling gray that's available on the navigator, but it could have been the same color. For those who don't know, Birmingham is a posh suburb near Detroit where a number of auto execs live, and its common to see test/future models driving around here. The car looked great in this color and its nice to see Lincoln presumably adding a gray option to the color choices, especially since all of the MKZ's competitors offer one. I presonally didn't care for the Smoked Quartz. I had pretty much made up my mind to go with another BMW or an Audi for my next car, but this may have brought the MKZ back into contention. I'll have to see it for more than 5 seconds though before I make up my mind.

No, the smoked quartz is more blue than gray.

I find Smoked Quartz to be an interesting color option, but its not for me personally. It looks a lot more bold in the promo photos that Lincoln released than it does in person. In person, it looks pretty plain. My grandmother had a 1986 Chrysler LeBaron the same color, which for me just kills some of the sporty vibe.

I sure hope they offer the MKZ in Gray in 2014. That color was noticeably absent from the 2013 color options. Every one of their competitors offers their respective cars in gray, and it was the best looking color on the last generation in my opinion. This isn't going to be a deal-breaker for me, and I still plan to get one towards the end of the year when my 3 series lease is up, but I would be a lot happier if I could get it in my prefered color choice.