The MOD procurement bean counters have a long and distinguished reputation for opting for the lowest bidder and selecting "multi-role" equipment to get "best value for money".
The Land Rover was one such example. It was a great utility vehicle but as the Gulf wars and Afghanistan proved, there was a limit to what you could bodge to fit a new role. One of the plusses of today is that access to todays media (and social media in particular) mean that stories of poor quality kit and the consequences of it being issued to frontline troops get to see the light of day and in spades. For those of us who served back in the 80's (for me), 70's and 60's there was no real method of voicing frustrations at poor kit, so you just put up with it. Brit Forces have a long established reputation of being able to "make do", but in truth there was feck all choice.
Half the kit that I was issued was soon consigned to the back of my locker in favour of commercially bought stuff. Norge shirts, pure wool walking socks, Ajungilak sleeping bag, Lundhags boots, Berghaus bergen....the list went on. Many of us spent a small fortune to have quality kit that would survive field work, yet some ladyparts in Whitehall who signed off on the purchase of second rate kit would ultimately retire with his name in the honours list and a healthy pension, having never used nor even seen the kit and certainly never given a thought to the troops who had to suffer for his departments penny pinching.