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I've driven the ML, CL, and UL, plus the ES350, RX350 ('07-10). Only the CL and UL had the suede. The ML has a fleece-like headliner (same as on my LX) that's good, but not as nice as the suede. The suede headliner looks and feels like the back side of a soft piece of leather. The synthetic headliner feels like polyester fleece, like the kind you find on liners of bike helmets (rather than the fleece jackets are made of).
That's just the normal headliner, synthe-suede, not the Alcazeda or whatever Lexus called the suede headliner. If you brush across the material, it should "flatten" the suede and leave a pattern on what you just brushed. Suede leaves tracks, just like blue suede shoes...