1) Disable Steamcloud globally. Steam>Settings>Downloads & Cloud (can't say for sure that this makes a difference)
2) Browse to your Steam userdata folder, find the "remote" folder that contains both your quick and autosave.fos files. Delete these.
3) Start New Vegas and make sure that nothing has been restored.
4) Stick to manual saves anyway, just in case, and back these up with the occasional alt-tab.
I haven't verified that this works for extended periods of time yet, but I will be trying it out today.