I DO hear you and essentially agree, more than agree. The OP's size seems to be AVG. and there's not much choice in his case, in the bike selection that is.
A custom bike or if one selects the components, the crank length is a major consideration. Anyway, it's good that you wrote what you did. More IMFO. is better.
I've short legs and I even wrestled with the 175 choice. I DO notice that 172.5 works for me, that bit of dif. from my old 170s & 168s is a welcome one.