No hard and fast rules for me. I’ll usually end up trying several and comparing them to see which one feels right (well, the right-est, anyway). Generally though, I’ll keep the rule of thirds in mind.
Oh, and spotted this today over on Facebook and thought I’d chuck it in as loosely related
Eyeball it. There are no “rules”. There are guidelines of what often looks best but they’re guides. And your eyes will tell you.
For me number 3 is the best. Im not a huge van of wide, narrow panos (personal preference). I also dont often like the curvature that appears in very wide FOV images visible on straight things like viaducts, roads etc.