For me, it depends.
I prefered a start within a city and nearly naked (with wandering hordes on), so in that case needs must when the devil drives. Besides, I want the cloth and wood.
When moving around in that kind of situation, when you have a weapon primarily to passively defend as you flee, its better to actually climb in a window, start a fire in a stove (for the smoke) or set the whole house on fire (to distract/kill zeds) and run out the locked front door, closing it behind you. Fires are contained within the city, luckily, to just that plot of land.
When raiding, I prefer the smash and grab technique for most things. Smash a window, grab the goods, flee. Or, should I have the access, hacksaws and lockpicks. Driving around in a small electric raider is ideal if you set it up. Does the game still allow for such easy configuration of vehicles? Theyve been nerfing that for a while now.
In short, you want to be quick, raid at night, use smoke to destroy your scent, and ideally pick out individual looting targets. I do more drive-bys than I do raids, because of the zombie presence. I try to lure them away with sound or fire. A favorite tactic of mine is to light the neighboring house on fire, stand in the light to attract the zeds, then drive around. Gotta make sure zeds from behind you dont destroy your car, but otherwise? meh.
The first mod I do on a car, besides repairs, is to add headlights and widen the arc of them. Then I add curtains to the windows. Curtain block LoS, and can be used to ram turrets or sleep safer. One of the items I think I like most is a modded candle I made, that purposely spews out a small amount of smoke.