My partner has the A1 1.6, does short journeys 6 miles round trip to work and back Town driving and obviously more use at weekend, not had a issue with DPF at all.
Speed, it's not rapid by any stretch ( my cars a S3 so speed is covered there ). Engine does however pull well and it's low down power, on reality it probably feels faster then it is. By far not the slowest hatch around, depends if you want speed / economy.
Touching on economy, it's brilliant. Nothing super scientific but it's been very good on long trips to London, Manchester, etc.