I'm using a 18mm which is quite fast and snappy. A friend of mine just bought a 27mm and I tried to compare both in focusing (in low light). I felt that the 27mm was a tiny little bit snappier, but not really much.
Both are great lenses. Both are snappy.
The 18mm is better for low light situations, as it's wider and a stop faster. It's a small lens...
The 27mm is a tiny lens. And by tiny I mean REALLY tiny.
The 27mm is sharper, but lacks an aperture ring (aperture is set with the dial on the camera back).
The 18mm is louder when focusing, the 27mm is quite silent.
One other thing to consider are the OVF framelines on the XPro1. The 27mm uses the "wide" magnification setting of the viewfinder and the framelines are on the small side. You can use the full view on the "narrow" magnification setting of the OVF, but you will lose the framelines.
You can simulate the frameline situation by activating the "shoot without lens" option and then selecting in the "mount adaptor settings" the custom focal length settings: Lens 5 (set it to 18mm) and Lens 6 (set it to 27mm).
TL;DR:
18mm if you like the "28mm" focal length, want better low light performance and when you're using the OVF a lot.
27mm if you like the "40mm" focal length, you want the smaller and sharper lens that is a tiny little bit snappier but is slightly worse in handling (not as compatible with the OVF as the 18mm and lacking an aperture ring)