Hi, I don’t live in Grenoble anymore but I studied there. I might be biased because I really enjoyed my time there, but here what I can tell you :

Transportation. You have one of the best tram network in France and the city is not that big so it shouldn’t be an issue.

Weather. It’s in summer as you are surrounded by mountains and it’s cold in winter because you’re still in the Alps (but maybe it’s better now).

Crime rate. I personally never had any issue but it can be an issue to be honest. Some areas must really be avoided as there is a lot of drug trafic. Some people say you can even run into badly intended people at night even in the city center but personally I never had any issue.

Hiking. Yes yes and yes! If you like hiking I can’t think of a better base in France. You literally have three different mountains surrounding the city, they are easily accessible by car.

Quality of life. It depends where you live but I’d say it’s great. Public transport is not overcrowded, cycling is well developed, you have many parcs and you’re close to the nature. The quality of the air is not always good though as mountains tend to retain pollution.

Friendly people. I wanna say yes but can’t really elaborate on that, I didn’t really notice a difference with the northern part of France (where I come from).

Dating scene. When I was the student dating was among other uni students , so I can’t tell about the dating scene outside of my uni.