How bad does a 2" lift effect fuel economy?

[jerrett]

Anyone ever done any testing on this, or have any observations? Also curious on the impact on handling, not that it's great to begin with.. but does it make it a lot worse?

[Kidhauler]

I think the width and size of the tires would have more affect on the mileage than just the lift. I know that liftedawd is a big advocate for a set of 4.11 gears if you start putting bigger tires on to get the gearing ratio back to a stock level over all. As far as handling it shouldn't be affected to a noticable degree unless you put tires with a huge soft sidewall on then your going to notice.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

The biggest effect on fuel economy is the diameter and width of the tires. You lose overall gearing when going to a taller tire so you end up working the engine harder. A 2" lift and some 29" tall tires won't make much difference until you get into towing or have a lot of hilly terrain to drive on. I do recommend 4.10/4.11 gears especially when going to a 4-5" lift and run 31" tires.

[jerrett]

Good to know, thanks! I'm mostly concerned with snow-clearance... I'm going to be using the van for backcountry snowboarding access, which is often along unplowed logging roads where handfuls of trucks typically drive - it remains to be seen if the ruts caused by trucks will be too deep

I might give it a shot this winter without lifting first and see how it goes... my understanding is that the stock clearance on a 1999 AWD astro is 6.8", which is actually a little less than my old Subaru Forester (2001, 7.5") - hence my curiousity re: lifting