Rental company probably didn’t expect someone to play in the mud with a rear-wheel-drive F-150.
This week’s Muddy Monday video comes to us from the YouTube channel of Milo Triana and it features a 2018 or 2019 Ford F-150 drifting in the mud. The title states that this truck is a rental, so shy of bracket racing, this is likely the most fun that you can have with an F-150 that you don’t own. Of course, the rental company probably wouldn’t approve, but with a good rinse, it would be easy to avoid any uncomfortable questions when you return the truck.
The Rental Truck
There are no details on this Ford F-150, shy of the fact that it is a rental. We can see that it is an XLT model, devoid of any four-wheel-drive badging and it appears to only spin the rear wheels, so we would guess that this truck is powered by the entry-level, 3.3-liter V6. At one point, the base V6 would have made a big truck a total bore, even in the mud, but with 290 horsepower and 265 lb-ft of torque, this V6 is as powerful as V8 engines in the not-so-distant past.
This truck is probably a great option for someone who needs to use a truck for a day or two to help a friend move or to move a college student into a new apartment. It doesn’t appear to have a hitch, so you can’t tow anything with it and the base V6 wouldn’t be much fun to take racing, unlike the rest of the F-150 engines. Also, without, four-wheel-drive, you can’t do any off-roading with this rental truck; or can you?
Drifting in the Mud
In the video above, the new F-150 XLT is drifting around an empty dirt lot that has just enough water in the middle to keep everything wet. The track created by the half-ton Ford truck is just muddy enough for the rear-drive truck to maintain a nice, smooth drift without getting stuck. Mind you, there are a few points where the truck is doing far more spinning than moving, but even when the driver tackles the water in the middle, the two-wheel-drive F-150 powers through to the other side.
While we would recommend against doing this with a rental truck, it is always a good idea to have something with four-wheel-drive on hand to pull you out. Luckily, the driver of this rental F-150 didn’t need the help.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
