I never had much luck with Handhelds. Had a Mundara SY-201 for a while (AM/SSB handheld) and it was a pretty poor performer.
As to swapping vehicles a lot. When I had a company car I was not allowed to mount a radio in AND I had to leave it at the office overnight (not allowed to take it home and the office had outside parking lot) I mounted a small 40 channel mobile set on a small bit of wood (about 12 x 8 ) , , screwed a leather strap handle on the side of the wood, wired up a lighter plug and got a small mag-mount antenna. I'd just put it on the passenger seat in the morn, and plug it in, throw the antenna on the roof. All of about 1 minute.
Al night, pull the antenna off (throw on back seat) unplug lighter plug and pick iup radio by handle, and off home. Another minute.
Yes I know, it wan't earthed properly , blah , blah. But it worked O.K.