yep, .75 drop will hardly be noticeable. That pic barely makes the car look low at all for some reason. In person you can tell the car dropped, I'd say about 1.5 inches.
Yeah the 55s puts you into a different category of tire, but they stick and look so much better. I paid $440, but I got them from my friends fathers shop. I still think you could get 205 55s for probably about $100 more.