Editing Dynaflow (section)

===Performance===
Dynaflow's inefficiency earned Buick a reputation as a “gas hog” even when compared to heavy, powerful luxury cars of the 1950s and early 1960s. But at the time, gasoline was cheap, emissions concerns were nonexistent, and Buicks were upscale cars, so the "gas hog" reputation was not a serious sales deterrent.

Manually "downshifting" from the direct drive “Drive range” to the 1.8:1 “Low range” enabled Buick's “torque monster” engines to provide very good acceleration, though frequent “downshifting” took a serious toll on transmission reliability. Arguably, a Buick “family car” wouldn't fare well during the teenage son's weekly “date night Friday” outings.

Engine [[revolutions per minute|RPM]] seemed to be more a function of accelerator pedal position than of actual road speed. "Flooring" the accelerator pedal would cause the engine speed to flare (even though there is no automatic downshift and no torque converter lockup to disengage). As the car would accelerate, RPM would further climb, but by a disproportionately smaller amount. Even more strangely, manually downshifting (see above) with the gas pedal already "floored" would not increase RPM in proportion to the 1.8:1 drop in gear ratio. The Dynaflow [[aural]] experience was similar to that of a [[Continuously Variable Transmission]] (CVT) (though modern electronically controlled CVT's address this throttle position dependent engine speed (and sound) characteristic by artificially inserting stepwise ratio changes instead of a truly continuous or constant rate change in order to simulate more driver-satisfying genuine shifts).