The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 4 letter word WHY NOT?
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
W
H
Y
N
O
T
?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "what’s the downside?" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case what’s the downside? = why not?.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.