What a moron salesdude! No worries on smogging the 03 (and I recommend 03 if you want AP1, get the latest possible).
That's worse than my first guy - it got funny fast trying to figure out how to start it (my first time driving a stewie
but I figured that out. Before you all go "duh, the big button with START on it", I left out the detail that it was dark and the dome light was off. Then I showed him how to put the top down... But he NEVER showed me VTEC - I didn't get that until a week after I bought the critter!