is an `04 with 97,000 miles for $12,999 a good purchase?

You can tell! if it was driven with a dainty paw, like my wife's prius...looks and smells brand new handled like a newborn infant..this...now if it belonged to a man, probably ate fried chicken while driving, spilled coffee all up in the console and drove the livin' hell out of it. You should be able to tell. The smell of the exhaust is a tipoff too. Does it smell oily, carboney, like unburned gasoline? or totally normal white smoke. more importantly, Do you like it? if you do none of these things matter.

Check the car's value at KBB.com and Edmunds.com

RX330 is a bad year model after 90,000 miles all the little headaches start to come up. for example trans fluid leaks into the anti-freeze. really bad setup and seal design. also wheel sensors go off often, dash lights and door motor issues. yes i have one RX330/2004 i would not recommend that year to anyone. also has a few calls backs. i would really check before buying that year and model.