MKII Clio Burning smell problem

Hello all. First post here, and already on the scrounge for a bit of advice. I few months ago, I bought my wife a MKII Clio on an 05 plate, for her to learn to drive in.

She passed her test, and has been driving it on short local drives ever since. Last week, the engine started to stutter and her EM light came on. I hooked it up to my little scanner and identified a cylinder 1 misfire. With the engine running I pulled the first coil and sure enough the engine didn't change. When I pulled any of the other coils, the engine died.

I went ahead and replaced the coil pack, and the misfire stopped. I cleared the code and it hasn't come back on since - so far, so good.

But while checking it the next day I thought I'd take a look at the oil. I lifted the cap and found it caked with mayo on the inside. My first thought was head gasket, but then I realised the seal on the oil cap was completely split, meaning moisture could have been getting in.

I scooped out most of the gunk and put in an aftermarket replacement cap. The oil on the dipstick seemed fine - no signs of mayo on there anywhere, and no higher or lower than it should have been.

I took the car for a run for an hour to get it up to temperature (like I say, it has only done short trips since we got it) then went to check the oil next day. The aftermarket filler cap literally snapped off in my hand, leaving the plug part still in the filler neck.

As far as I could tell, though, the seal was still tight, so I ordered a replacement cap from Renault which I'm waiting on arriving now.

The problem we currently have is that there's a smell which I think is burning oil coming in through the air vents. It starts the moment the car starts, though, which suggests that it's not oil burning anywhere, because the car is still cold (it's -1 here at the moment).

My wife tells me that she got the same smell once before I changed the coil pack - complete with a puff of light smoke through the air vent, which she didn't think to mention until now.

When I got the car there were signs of a historical oil leak, but all well dried in and nothing that looked even remotely recent.

I took the car for a high-rev run for three miles or so a few minutes ago, and the smell seemed to fade a bit. You can't smell it from outside the car at all, only inside. It doesn't smell like coolant, definitely more like oil or possibly plastic.

I've checked the new coils and none of them seem burnt in any way. Could it be connected to the broken oil filler cap, even though it still seems tightly sealed? I can't see why I'd be getting the smell from cold if it was that, though.

Any ideas?

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MKII Clio Burning smell problem