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The rougher the underside of the vehicule, the more benefit there will be from a reduction in ride height. On the other hand, if the underside of the vehicule is a very good aerodynamic shape, increasing ride height will reduce the drag coefficient. If I remember right, an airfoil can have a Cd of roughly .05 up high in the air. Bring this airfoil in ground proximity and the Cd now jumps to .1 or the like due to ground effect. There is a reference of this in Hucho's book. The aptera is also a good example of this IMHO.
Generally, your average car will benefit from ride height reduction.
The frontal area argument is not really relevant. Say you drop 2 inches in a 22 square feet car, the net result is a reduction in frontal area of roughly 0.75%.
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