Does a VW really need that fancy AGM battery or can I just put a normal one in and call it a day

[oliviabrown]

The battery in my 2018 Tiguan finally gave up this morning and I'm standing in the parking lot with the hood up looking at this massive black box that says AGM on the top and I'm already dreading the cost because I know these stop start batteries are like double the price of a regular one and I never even use the stop start function I disable it the second I start the car every single time out of pure habit because the lag when the light turns green drives me insane. I've been reading mixed opinions online where some people say you absolutely must replace it with the same type and have it coded to the car otherwise the battery management system will overcharge it and kill it in six months and other people are saying they just threw in a regular flooded battery two years ago and everything's been fine and the stop start just doesn't work anymore which is actually a feature as far as I'm concerned. I found a place that does Volkswagen car battery replacement Abu Dhabi and they seem to carry both options and the guy on the phone said they can do the coding if I go with the AGM but he didn't really give me a straight answer on whether I'd regret cheaping out and going with the standard one and now I'm standing here in the heat trying to decide if I should just bite the bullet and pay the extra few hundred dirhams for peace of mind or if it's all a bit of a con to sell more expensive batteries to people who just want their car to start in the morning. Anyone actually put a normal battery in a newer VW and lived to tell the tale without a dashboard full of warning lights and a dead car two weeks later?