@ljonathanl I think this is the intended behavior. When you assign items as part of the ViewModel's data, it is converted to an object that intercepts the array methods and getters/setters for objects. So, by keeping a reference to an item from the list, you keep the ability to insert a value back into. Two questions for you- what would you expect to happen instead? what is the use case for keeping references to list items around when the list has been purged?

If you use loop.items = []; to empty the array (instead of splice), then you will have a truly new array in the ViewModel and the old reference will not affect it.

Thank you for the answer but I do not agree with you, data (or model) does not belong only to a Vue, see my update of the fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/4JGRy/1/
The Item has been created and added after to the list, the list has been purged but the Item can be modified after by another Vue for example or by business part.
Secondly I think it is a bug because if you modify the Item after a frame (waiting for Vue.nextTick for example), the list will be kept empty: the good behavior.

And empty array is not a solution because data (or model) does not belong only to a Vue.
For example:

var model = {items: [1,2,3]};
var list = new Vue({data: {items: model.items}});

if I set list.items with an empty array I lost my reference with the model.